


I Wish I Was More Like You

by Sunflower_Seeds



Category: Long Exposure (Webcomic)
Genre: .....Also Jonas is Bi as Fuck, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff and Angst, Jonas is Sarcastic and Angsty, M/M, Mitch is a NERD and trying his best, Slow Burn, reverse au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2019-03-07 21:31:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 29,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13443798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sunflower_Seeds/pseuds/Sunflower_Seeds
Summary: After being gone for a year Jonas was (sort-of) ready to start back at Shellwood High. And what he was most excited to do was see his longtime victim, Mitch Mueller.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I am fully aware no one asked for this AU, but I believe it is what the fandom needs. Some basic knowledge about this fic's universe is that almost all the main characters have their personalities switched. So Mitch and the Garbage Gang, as well as Jonas and his group of friends are different. Hope you enjoy, and if you guys see any spelling or grammar mistakes tell me in the comments.

Jonas Wagner was not in a good mood today, he has been trying to think about, literally anything else for the past 3 months, but he knew it would come at some point. Sure he was somewhat happy to see his friends, but why did it have to be on the first day of school back at one of the places he hated most.

The air was stuffy and unexplainable hot, Jonas felt a bead of sweat run down his face. Without really realizing what he was doing, he turned on the tap water, scooping it up into his clammy hands then splashing it on his face. It was a shock to his system feeling the ice cold water hit him, but it did help wake him up a little.

He stared at the mirror, his eyes seemed hollow and unfocused, even he could see it. His ever abundant amount of freckles seemed even more invasive on his face than usual, and it was making him even more self-conscious.

“Fuck, this is gonna be a shitty day.”

He raised his hands through his messy and curly hair, in a failed attempt to make it look less like he hadn't’ brushed it in 3 years. He wanted to make a good impression after being away for so long, he also didn’t want Dean to give him crap about it, not today of all days.

“Jonas if you don’t get out of the house now, the bus will be leaving without you!” Shouted the King Assface himself.

He has been in the bathroom for about 20 minutes now, wishing he could smoke a cigarette to help him relax more. But Jonas knew Dean would burn him alive if he ever smelled smoke on him. Jonas sighed and had one last look, he then just decided to wear a hat and be done with it.

Walking down the stairs Jonas was still lost in his own thoughts, trying and failing at thinking of any good reason he had to go to school. He knew the looks he would receive, the whispers that would fill the halls as soon as he walked into that god-forsaken building, and for what? Just to learn about things he would never need in the real world.

He was just thinking about different ways he could sneak out of class when one of the many foster kids in the Wagner house ran straight into him. “Umph,” Both grunted at the sudden contact when the kid looked up and saw the person he walked into, his eyes widened with fear from the way Jonas was glaring at him. He quickly let out a muffled apology and bolted back down the stairs, even though that was the opposite direction he wanted to go.

 _Still got it_. Jonas thought with a small smile.

He got down to the first floor, the sound of children chatting and laughing was so loud Jonas was already starting to get a headache. Jonas couldn’t help but look around at the house he grew up in, he didn’t really know how to explain it but the feeling of this place was supposed and meant to feel like a home, but it just seemed forced. There was always a tense air there as if at any moment your world would come crashing down without you even having time to consider why or how.

He grabbed his bag and scurried out the door, so he could avoid having Dean tell him off for wearing his ratty old jeans that had more holes than actual fabric. He met up with Sidney at the Bus stop, she was wearing her favorite button-down shirt with light pink flowers and had her hair pulled up into a ponytail with a headband. She was grinning in a way that always made him feel better.

“What you so damn happy about Sid,” Jonas asked wrapping his arm around her shoulder returning her big smile.

“Well, how can’t I be happy when my little brother is coming back after being gone for so long? Sellwood hasn’t been the same without you, Jojo.” She beamed.

“Isn’t that a good thing? I mean, now that Military school has turned me into a responsible functioning member of society. I can finally be the son Dean always wanted me to be, can’t you fucking tell?” He said while gesturing towards dirty and torn clothes as if that explained it all.

Sidney lightly punched her twin in the shoulder for swearing, “I am being serious JoJo, dealing with Dean hard without you around. And Mads never stops talking about you, that girl has it bad.”

Jonas couldn’t help roll his eyes at the last comment, “I know, well at least you have me now. But you know who I am most excited to see…?” Joey promoted to make his sister guess.

“Who?” She asked in mock wonder.

“Mitch.” As he said that name he couldn’t help but smile at all the memories of him giving the boy shit. All the stupid nicknames, dumb jokes, that always seemed to make the boy’s face go red and make him start to stutter.

“I never understood why you always gave him a hard time, what did he ever do to you?” Sidney challenged.

Jonas had to be honest with himself, he had no idea why he did it. Mitch Mueller was very smart and good guy who just always seemed to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, he was an easy target.

 _I mean I was almost fucking friends with the guy._ But Jonas tried to push that thought to the back of his mind, he didn’t really like thinking about what couldn’t been. If he did then his mind would go into a neverending spiral of disappointment and regret and he didn’t need that right now, he never really needed that.

So Sid was completely right, which she usually was, Jonas has no real reason. But she didn’t need to know that. But just before Jonas could reply with a good comeback, he could see out of the corner of his eye, the sicking bright yellow Sellwood High school bus roll up. His heart rate quicken and his stomach did a couple cartwheels.

Sidney turned towards him, her hazel eyes seemed a shade greener than usual, “Ready to go little bro?” She had a sly smirk on her freckled face that was identical to his.

“Yeah.” He lied, but he knew he couldn’t show he was even the littlest bit worried, he was Jonas Mother Fucking Wagner after all.

______________________

_Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep…._

_Shut up, I am trying to sleep._

_Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep…._

_Where are you coming from I was having a good dream about….!?! Oh, shoot I forgot what it was about. All I remember is freckles._

Freckles, Freckles, Freckles, Freckles, Freckles… _. Beep, Beep!!!_

“MITCH TURN YOUR DAMN PHONE OFF, I’M TRY’N SLEEP!!”

Mitch’s amber eyes shot open when he figured out what that beeping was, and his Aunt’s voice ringing through their small trailer. He groaned and shut off his phone, trying to remember what his dream was about because it was a really good dream. He lifted his hand to his chest feeling his heart beating wildly. He closed his eyes again and just saw freckles, beautiful freckles, on soft, smooth, copper skin.

That's when he realized.

He looked down, he had the dreaded morning erection. How can just little random dots on a person’s face make someone so turned on, Mitch did not know. He felt his cheeks start to heat up, he rubbed his long, lean face in frustration.

 _Today of all days. I mean what did I expect, to have a good first day? Don’t be so ignorant_. Mitch thought while letting out a humorless laugh.

He got up and started to get dress, he threw on an old button up that he got from at a Salvation Army a few years back. It had gotten a little bit to tight for his liking but it was the best he could do. Mitch realized he had to get going soon, he didn’t want to be late. He knew better than anyone how Crystal felt about him being late.

Mitch walked into the small cramped bathroom and looked into the tiny broken mirror. He brought one of his huge hands to his hair thinking about cutting it, maybe dying it a lighter brown? Or he could dye it orange like Freddie’s...

 _No that’s stupid, Mom would lose it. I would look even more awful as a ginger._  He thought with a tight frown. _And isn’t too long, I mean, I haven’t cut it in while but still._

He has had the same hairstyle since he was 15, he remembered Jonas gave him crap about it. Saying it looked like he was trying to get into a 90s boyband than Jonas Wagner was sent off to Military school and he hasn’t seen the boy since.

Mitch tried to not think about Jonas anymore, just like he didn’t think about his older brother, but it was hard. Mitch has had crushes on boys before, and he has known he was gay for a while, but that kid was something else. He made his stomach twist into knots and his brain turn to mush. He was never even able to get out a full sentence without his face going red, or making a fool of himself. But he has learned to deal with it, him and Jonas were too different, and anyone on planet Earth could see that he was not interested in Mitch.

He looked at the time on his phone, “Oh Shoot, I have to get going…” his long legs carding he from the bathroom to the living room. With a quick “Goodbye” to his aunt Lorraine and was on his way. As soon as he got out of the trailer he saw Crystal was impatiently tapping her foot.

“Hi, Scratch!” Mitch cheered enthusiastically.

“If you ever call me that again I refuse to drive you to school for the rest of the year.” She threatened, scowling at Mitch, “You are wearing two different pairs of shoes, by the way.”

He looked down, and sure enough, she was right. He groaned turning to go back inside to fix his mistake.

“No, no, no Mitchy-boy we are already 5 minutes late, and I am doing you a favor. So get your butt into the car,” Before he could protest she put up her pointer finger, her sharp perfectly painted nail glistened in the early morning sunlight.

“And no, ‘But-t Crystal, I have to look my best for the first day of school’ because you should've thought of that when setting your alarm last night.” She added while doing a very bad impression of Mitch. Trying to make her high pitched voice go down to match his gruft one.

Mitch couldn’t help but glare at her, she was like the overbearing parent he never had nor ever wanted. But he just sighed and started towards the beat up car Crystal spent all last summer saving up for. That thing was her baby, her pride, and joy; whenever someone got into the car she told them the never-ending list of rules she had made to keep it in “Prime Condition”. In reality, it was a crappy Sedan with only faith holding it together.

When they got into the car, the smell of air freshener filled Mitch’s nose, he turned to her, “At least tell me if it is noticeable,” He pleaded.

Her unnatural pink colored eyes looked down at his raggy old loafers, “Uum, I guess. If you're not paying very close attention and have really bad eyesight,” She shrugged, then turning on the radio. What most considered “Elevator music” began to play, Crystal started to bob her head in time to the beat.

“Wow thanks, just what I needed today.” He grumbled, looking out at the bleak world that passed him by.

“Well I am sorry to say but your day is about to get much worse,” She pointed out, eyes still focused on the road ahead of them.

“Why don’t you tell me how my life is going to get worst Crystal, I would love to know,” He questioned beaming, he knew that she was probably just messing with him because she was still angry with him being late. And really how could Mitch Mueller’s life get any more difficult.

“You think I’m joking, but I heard that Jonas Wagner is back, you know that kid who used to give you shit all the t-,” She finally looked at him and she could see the smile he had before was completely gone and was replaced by a look of pure horror.

______________________ 

In the end, even with all the build-up, the bus ride was really uneventful. Of course, some kids looked surprised to see Jonas but it was nothing too serious. He saw Lewis in one of the third-row seats and started to walk towards him. He did have to force a freshman from one of the seats so he and Sid could sit together, and she didn’t like that at all. She tried to give the kid their spot back, but he was already long gone.

“Joey it has only been 2 minutes and you are already picking fights!” She murmured angrily, plopping down next to the window.

“Come on Sid, it was just a fucking freshman, it’s no big deal,” He turned towards Lewis who was grinning ear to ear behind them.

“Hey man, long time no see,” The boy fist-bumped Jonas, “How you been, everyone missed you.”

“Well, I am back at Shellwood how much god-damn worse can it get,” That statement got a laugh from Lewis and another glare from Sidney, “And don’t you fucking lie to me, why would anyone in this shitty town miss me?”

After that Lewis went on a tangent of what he did this summer, and Jonas wasn’t really listening so instead he just looked at the other teen. He still suffered from acne that covered his whole face, and he somehow got even taller over the last year. But no matter how many sports he plays he is still a skinny stick of a person, because of him being what some would say a jock he really doesn’t seem like the guy to hang out with Jonas’ ragtag group of friends. But he has known them for years and he wasn’t much for change. He wasn’t very smart either, so maybe that had something to do with it.

Lewis kept on talking for the whole bus ride, so Jonas had enough time to let his mind wander to other things. And for some reason his mind seemed to wander all the way back to Mitch, he had no idea why but he thought a lot about him while he was at Holy Oaks School for Boys. How he was doing, how people were treating him, stuff like that. The thing about Mitch was that he was the kind of person that was hard to forget.

To someone who sees him for the first time they think he looks kind of intimidating but then you start to talk to him and that idea of “scary bully” fades away fast. He is a nervous wreck all the time, but it seems that Jonas is the person that always pushes him over the edge. Other people said meaner, nastier things but whenever Jonas talked to him he couldn’t hold himself together. He remembers in 8th grade someone started a rumor that Mitch had a crush on Jonas. No one ever let Mitch live it down and the things they called him became worse, but Jonas never brought it up, never even said a word about it. He always thought it was a low blow to give someone a hard time about sort of thing, he didn’t deserve that. And the rumor really was bullshit, Jonas never gave him a reason to like him, he was an asshole, rude, and ugly who would want that?

After what felt like 5 seconds the school bus rolled up to the high school, he was finally pulled out of his thoughts and turned to his sister, who was looking pretty happy for someone who was starting their first day of school.

“You look way more excited then you should Sid if you keep on smiling like that your face is going to freeze and stay that way forever, and I really don’t want to see that every day,” Jonas whispered as if it was a big secret.

“You know what, I don’t care because nothing can ruin this day for me,” She giggled, “Not even your crappy attitude.”

Lewis rustled her hair as they walked off the bus, he turns towards Jonas, “Wow she cursed, what would Dean think?”

Jonas couldn’t help but laugh at the look Lucas received for that comment, and part of him thought, _Hey this can’t be that bad, it will be boring as hell but not as shitty as before, maybe Shellwood got better._

“I mean, she does have a point, this is our senior year, we rule this place. Let’s make the most of it.” The taller teen pointed out. As they walked into the building Jonas actually felt his spirits start to rise, _Yeah it can’t be that bad, can it?_

______________________

 _How could one simple sentence ruin my whole day?_ That agonizing and intrusive question was running around Mitch’s head for the whole rest of the silent car ride.

And the question, _Why didn’t Scratch just let me change my shoes?_ Because he knows Jonas will point it out. In reality, a small part of him was happy, he was about to see the boy he has been crushing on for the first time in a while. But then Mitch remembers that that boy hates him and probably just dying to give him a hard time.

That is when the third, and final question went through his head, _Why don’t I just avoid him all day, I mean he will probably be busy seeing his friends. Why would he even bat an eye at me?_

The Sedan stopped abruptly, and he realized he was already at school. Crystal turned towards him giving her best “Mother worried about her socially awkward kid going to public school for the first time”, look.

“Mitch I know you're scared-,” She started but was immediately interrupted by her friend,“I am not scared!”

“You are the worst liar I have ever met,” She added as her eyebrows raised, “And really, you have me, Javier and Cliff to keep you safe from that freckle-faced bastard.”

Mitch wanted to take those words to heart, but as he keeps on walking towards the school the feeling of dread and unexplainable hope seemed to grow.

“Yeah, I know- I know,” He stammered trying to remove the trailer park accent he has gotten from living there all his life. People would give him, and really all his friends, shit for coming from there. It was like they didn’t deserve to be trying to get out of the situation they were in. That they were expected to never go to college, probably not even finish high school, and stay in Shellwood forever. But Mitch wanted something different, he wanted to make his mom proud. He was going to get good grades, get into a good school and get a good, well-paying job, to support both him and her. That is what all of his friends wanted, that is why they stuck together.

“We can meet up with them at the assembly and talk strategy on how to avoid him today,” She replied with a grin, “Now come on we don’t want to be late.”

______________________

The gym where the assembly was being held was almost full by the time Jonas got there with his friends. A few minutes before he met up with Maddie and she was still going through her “emo/goth” phase. With colored hair, coker, and poorly applied eyeliner, personally he thought she would have gotten over that by now but it was clearly still going strong. And she was being way too touchy-feely for Jonas’ liking, hanging off his arm like her life depended on it.

But really it didn’t matter, he was focused on other things right now. Such as Carmen looking even better than the last time he saw her, he wanted to go say ‘Hi’. But after closer inspection she was with that son-of-a-bitch Neil Beckman, who Jonas really didn’t want to talk to at the moment, so he let it go.

“Oh, look Sidney is sitting over there!” Maddie practically screeched into his ear. Sidney and Lewis had the job of getting good seats as Jonas reunited with the girl.

As going through the gym Jonas couldn’t help but look for Mitch in the crowd, he was trying to think of what he was going to say to him. He should be here, he isn’t the type of person to skip anything related to school, and it’s not like he isn’t hard to point out. But he was nowhere to be seen, and it was bumping Jonas out.

They finally got to the others, after what felt like forever as people keep looking at Jonas as if he had the plague. He knew that the stares and whispers were bound to happen, still doesn’t mean he liked it. He had to get out of here as soon as possible.

“Hey guys,” Sidney sighed at the two of them as they sat down. Maddie, of course, went over to her and started to talk about something that Jonas didn’t care enough about to try and figure out. Lewis just looked at him and rolled his eyes as if to say, “Woman, am I right?”. But Jonas just ignored him and tried not to play with his hands. He didn’t want to seem as if he was nervous, which he clearly was.

_Why are there so many people? Man, I could really use a smoke right about now. If I don’t get to leave in the next 5 minutes I will fucking murder someone. And where the hell is Mitch I need something to make me think of anything else, besides this hellhole._

Even in his head, the last statement sounded whining and desperate, but he tried to not notice that little fact. The rest of the meeting was uneventful, just the normal boring speech on the rules and exceptions of the school, but that was it. He would have taken the time to sleep as he couldn’t have last night, but he could feel that some people were giving him strange looks.

As everyone was filling out, Jonas told his friends he had to go to the bathroom, when really he just needed some time to cool down. It also gave him time to look around the school again, jog his memory. He wasn’t surprised that a lot of the things were the same as before, it was just nice to have a see what changed.

Jonas went out the back way behind the cafeteria, leaning against the red brick wall and letting out a shaky breath. The practically summer breeze ruffled his soft curly hair. He eventually pulled out a cigarette and lit it up, part of him knew how bad it was for him, but it helped him calm down. He got hooked on them at Holy Oaks after some kid, who he can’t even remember their name, snuck a pack in the dorm.

It was really shitty there, nothing to do, no one to talk too, it felt like a prison. The only reason Dean let Jonas come back was that he promised he would be better behaved and follow the rules. He knew if it got bad enough Dean would throw him back into the foster care system, and that was the worst possible option. So he was going to at least try and get his act together, and after senior year he was out of this town.

After his cigarette got down to the dud, he squished it under his dirty Adidas he wore almost every day. He was painfully aware he had been gone for too long and should be getting back by now. So he started to walk back to the gym, ready to begin the day. But he knew he would be spending the rest of the day wanting to go to the skatepark after school, maybe he could even convince Sidney to try it out again. The thought made him laugh as he tried to teach her all summer, and she was really bad at it. He remembered the time when they were kids and she was mad at him for saying something gross and vulgar again. So she stole his skateboard and tried to ride it to get back at him, and ended up falling on her face. It was a mess of blood and tears and all Jonas could do was hold his twin and tell her he was, “So sorry”, over and over again. She has been scared to go on a board ever since.

The sound of his sneakers squeaking on the cream colored tile filled the empty halls, as everyone was in their first class. Just as Jonas was zoning out again he heard another set of footsteps, _Oh shit, it’s probably a Hall Monitor or something. Dean will be fucking pissed if I get detention on the first day._

He was ready to run to the nearest bathroom but it was too late, as the sound of the person was getting closer faster than Jonas could keep up. He knew it was useless to try and get away, so he was ready to try and come up with an excuse as quickly as he could. But his thoughts came to an abrupt stop when he saw who the person was.

The looming figure of one Mitchell Mueller was just a few feet away from him, and he could see that, like most things in Sellwood, he hadn’t changed much. He still had that haircut, long face, big teeth, and the same shocked and somewhat scared expression that he wore most of the times he saw Jonas.

The silence between the two seemed everlasting, but after Jonas got over his initial surprise he couldn’t help but grin. He had been waiting for this for a while.

“Well well, if it isn’t Bitchell? Long time no see, did you miss me? Because I sure as hell missed you.” Jonas drawled in a falsely sweet tone.

And in all his 18 years of being on this earth, he had never seen a face lose its color so fast.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for the love and support, really means a lot to me. But I did forget to credit Mars in the first chapter, which was my mistake, but they are the one who created these wonderful characters, so thank you. Hope you enjoy and if you don't mind I would love to hear your opinions in the comments!

Mitch will probably never forget the first time he met Jonas Wagner, or at least, the memory will stick with him for a while….

_It was a really normal Monday, except Mitch was forced to walk to school as his mom and step-dad were having another fight, and he really didn’t want to get in the middle of it._

_As he was walking out his mom give him a slight nod telling him she was going to be “okay”, but Mitch knew better. He also knew she would be really sad and disappointed if he missed school to stay home with her, so he had no other choice._

_But the bus already left and he had to spend 45 minutes getting to school, so he was all gross and sweating by the time he got there. It didn’t help that he wasn’t able to get to sleep last night. No, it was not going to be a good day for Mitch Mueller, he could feel it deep in his soul. It was almost like a sixth sense._

_When he finally made it he knew he would be getting to homeroom late, but it was no big deal. He was fully aware no one would be paying attention as they would all be talking to each other for the first few minutes. All he had to do was say a quick apology to the teacher and sit down at his desk as if he had been there the whole time, it’s not like anyone would notice he had been gone. Didn’t stop him from running to get there, though._

_He got to the door and opened way louder and aggressively than he originally intended._

_“Hello, sorry I am late Mrs-” But his sentence was cut short as everyone had turned their head towards the doorway, and it looked like Mitch had interrupted something important._

_“It’s okay Mitchell, please take your set.” She said as some students let out snickers._

_He felt the awful clawing in his stomach of embarrassment and hot shame as he made his way to the back of the class. He plopped down at his desk and looked at the front of the room. To his surprise he saw two new faces, well they had the same face, as they seemed to be twins._

_“As I was saying, Jonas and Sidney were previously homeschooled, and this is their first time in public school! So I expect everyone to be on their best be on their best behavior, and make a good first impression on them.”_

_Mitch barely heard what the teacher was saying as he was just looking at the two people next to her. The girl, Sidney, had a small friendly smile on her face and was wearing dark blue jeans with a flowy white top._

_But to be completely honest, Mitch was really paying attention to her but her brother, and he may have been the prettiest boy he had ever seen. With beautiful freckles that covered his face and arms, to his wavy chocolate brown hair, and his eyes that were the color of the lush green woods near the trailer park. Just everything about him made Mitch’s face feel hot…. God, he felt pathetic._

_Before he knew it the two of them were walking to different sits around the class, and Jonas was walking straight towards him. Mitch guessed the teacher told them to find a seat, and he noticed the desk next to him was empty. He got there and put his bag on the back of the chair, and Mitch couldn’t do anything other than look at him dumbfounded._

_J_ _onas looked at him and bared his teeth as to say, “Back off and leave me alone”, this caused Mith to become painfully aware that he had been staring. He scanned the rest of the room, trying to look anywhere other than the boy next to him. But he could almost feel the smirk Jonas was making._

_The rest of class went on uneventful, and as everyone was leaving Mitch let out a deep breath ready to recite the words he had been practicing all the past hour. Just as Jonas was about to leave, and it seemed he really want to, Mitch tapped his shoulder._

_He spun around surprisingly fast and snarled, “What?”._

_The other preteen was caught completely off guard, but went on saying what he wanted to say without really realizing it, “D-do you want me to, um, maybe, show you around school?” He blurted out._

_Right after Mitch’s eyes went wide and he added hurriedly, “Since your new, and a-all. I don't have to if you don’t want me to!”_

_Jonas seemed taken aback by the question like he expected Mitch to back down. But it was very obvious when you really paid attention you could see that the freckled boy had an apprehensive and jittery air to him. As if at any moment if someone made the wrong move he would be ready to fight in a second. A look no 7th grader should have._

_But that expression was quickly gone and was replaced with something similar to amusement._

_“Okay, sure..” He agreed slowly as he played the hem of his worn, secondhand looking shirt. And Mitch was trying not to smile so much as he didn’t want to look desperate. But he couldn’t wait to tell his mom about the new boy at school_.

______________________

_He and Jonas ate together at lunch, either of them talked much but it was a comfortable silence. Mitch could tell that Jonas probably wanted to sit with his sister but she was busy making her own friends. But he was still trying to make him feel welcomed and what not, by asking what he liked to do and that sort of thing._

_In the course of 25 minutes, Mitch learned that: A.) Jonas liked skateboarding. B.) He lived in Shellwood for the past 8 years, or as Jonas said it, “Way to fucking long” with an added exasperated sigh. And C.) his favorite color was yellow._

_These were all good things to work with, and Mitch was going to hold on to this information as if he was going to have to use it later. And that was how the day kind-of went, with Jonas following Mitch around, in reality, Mitch was the one who was being Jonas’ shadow. But he really didn’t mind that Jonas was the one in charge, just being with him made him feel all fuzzy and giddy._

_As the two boys were walking out of the school building Jonas lazily asked, “Do you want to come to the skatepark with me after school tomorrow?”_

_Mitch could hardly believe it, he wanted to hang out more. Mitch originally thought Jonas would dump him after the first day._

_“Yeah! I mean s-sure… I would like that a lot.” Jonas let out a quiet laugh after Mitch's reply, shaking his head a little._

_“Whatever the hell you say Mit, see you tomorrow.” He said while putting on his baseball cap and walked the rest of the way to the bus to met up with Sidney._

_Mitch couldn’t help but feel unbelievably flustered by what he said and didn’t know if his heart would ever calm down._

________________________

_On Tuesday, Mitch waited outside for Jonas to get to school, when he saw him he smiled wide, and made a beckoning hand motion. But something was off, it was true Mitch hadn’t known Jonas for too long but he was somewhat good at reading people. He wanted to ask what was wrong but that didn’t seem like the right thing to do at the moment, so he let it go._

_He and Jonas were together in most classes so they were able to sit together, which probably a bad idea on the teachers part as they didn’t stop talking. Well, Mitch was usually the one talking, but Jonas was becoming more relaxed around him, so he started adding in jokes now and again. It let him realize how interesting the other boy was, every time he talked, Mitch wanted to know even more._

_But his admiration grew tenfold after lunch that day. The two of them were walking down the hallway and Mitch was trying and failing to explain how time travel was possible to Jonas who said he didn’t really believe in that “bullshit” when Neil Beckman purposely bumped into Mitch making him drop all his books and school work on the ground._

_“Where do you and your boyfriend think you're going trailer trash?” The blond boy sneered as his friends laughed in the background._

_Mitch gulped and tried not to look Neil in the eye. He had learned just to ignore him and he would eventually leave him alone. But the other boy was not in a generous mood today._

_“Your throat must be so sore from sucking_ _dick_ _that you can’t even talk to me.” He continued grinning from ear to ear._

_“Dude just leave him alone.” A voice next to Mitch uttered. Mitch looked at Jonas and his expression was unreadable._

_Neil shifted his gaze towards Jonas, “And who is going to make me Mrs. Butterworth’s?”_

There was a fire in Jonas’ hazel eyes that reminded Mitch too much of when his brother use to get angry. It was just pure _hot rage. And before anyone realized what was going on, Jonas sucker punched Neil right in the jaw._

_It was as if time stopped for 3 seconds, no one moved, and no one talked. Until Neil let out a choked sob and whined, “Ooooow you son-of-a-bitch!” His friends finally came to their senses and looked at the other boys seeming like they were ready to fight._

_Mitch made a quick decision and grabbed Jonas by the arm and started running as fast as he could. Jonas didn’t seem to protest so he just went faster._

_“Where are we going!?!” He practically yelled._

_“I-I don’t know, just anywhere other than here.”_

_“I have an idea,” Jonas pulled at Mitch’s sleeve, “It’s a shitty one, but it’s an idea.”_

_The sound of Neil’s friends_ _w_ _ere_ _not far behind but when Jonas took the lead he was able to find a way that through the other boys off their trail._

_They made it to the back door leading to the playground. Mitch suddenly stopped, “Wait why are we going out that way?”_

_“Well, how do you feel about skipping school?” Jonas asked nervously, and Mitch couldn’t help the feeling of fear clutch his heart. He knew his stepdad, Tom, wouldn’t care, and his Mom would just be disappointed. But that didn’t really help the feeling of nausea overtake him._

What would happen to Jonas, he would get in so much trouble. And if I stayed no why the others will leave me alone. This is our best chance _._

_Mitch thought, but he knew he wasn’t being rational. Even so, he was still becoming light-headed with Jonas being so close and holding onto his arm. So that was very much clouding his judgment._

_“Okay. Where we’ll we go?” Mitch questioned._

_A small smile crossed Jonas’ face. “I did ask you to come to the skatepark with me?” He phased it almost as a question, and Mitch nodded._

_The two teens opened the door and walked into the sunny afternoon._

________________________

_They walked about 20 minutes to the park, and thankfully it was basically empty. The whole way Mitch was trying to think of something to say to Jonas, as there was a somewhat awkward air around the two ever since they left school._

_He let out a sigh and turned to the shorter boy, “You really didn’t have to do that, punch Neil, I mean.”_

_Jonas looked at him with an eyebrow raised, “Is that your shitty way of saying ‘Thank you’ for me saving your ass?” He teased playfully._

_“No I am serious Jonas, I’m not worth the trouble.” Jonas scoffed after he said that with a somewhat sad look on his face._

_“Dude it’s fine, let it go. And if I get in trouble I won’t bring you into it. But I brought you here for a reason," He declared as he pulled out something out of his bag. “To teach you how to skate! My sister won’t let me show her how to do it, and all the other foster kids aren’t interested. Well, Eddy was, but he left a year ago.” Jonas rambled on._

_But Mitch was still recovering from learning about the “other foster kids”. It’s not that he thinks that's a bad thing, just surprising, he tried not to let the shock show on his face._

_“I am not so sure about this.” Mitch insisted while looking at the skateboard, feelings as if he tried riding it he would look like a complete loser._

_“Please, come on it will be fun!” Jonas pushed, and Mitch knew he couldn’t say “no”. That thought made his face burn, but he tried to push that feeling aside, he would think about that later._

_They spent the next few minutes trying to find the best way for Mitch to get on the board and go situated. When he got on and was already sure he was going to fall, Jonas let him grab onto his shoulders so he could keep his balance. The board moved slightly under him and Mitch let out an embarrassing shriek squishing Jonas even more. The boy let out a laugh that made Mitch’s legs feel even more like jelly._

_After many failed attempts Jonas gave up and the two of them sat on the grass near the halfpipe just to talk. After a few tries at small talk, but it seemed Jonas was somewhere else. Then the boy abruptly asked, “Why are you even hanging out with me?”_

_Once again Mitch was mystified by the teen as Mitch was completely surprised that Jonas even wanted to hang out with a socially awkward nerd like him in the first place._

_“I mean, I fucked up with Neil, I know he will give you some much shit tomorrow because of m-”_

_“What no, you helped me!” Mitch tried to explain, but Jonas wasn’t having it._

_“No Mitch! All I ever do is fuck everything up, I can’t do anything fucking right…” The outburst seemed to come out of nowhere, just a few minutes ago they were having fun and having a good time._

_“Jonas I don’t think you mess everything up, I think you're really cool.” He couldn’t help but inwardly cringe at his own words because they sounded so forced, but he truly meant them. Just for good measure, Mitch placed his hand on Jonas’ arm. It seemed to work for a second, as his face relaxed, but the last less pleasant expression came back, even more, harsher than before._

_He stood up and turned to Mitch again, the same fire in his eyes that he had when facing Neil, “You don’t know shit about me, so stop acting like you do! Just leave me alone. I don’t need a nerd like you feeling sorry for me!” He barked out, it was as if Mitch had been punched in the face, and his heart had been crushed._

_“J-Jonas…”_

_“Just leave.” Jonas looked down and picked up his backpack turning to leave. Mitch watched him till he was out of sight._

What did I do wrong? _Was all Mitch could think the whole time as Jonas walked off, and the whole time he was walking home, and the whole time he cried to his mom as he held him and whispered how much she loved him, and the whole night long._

________________________

Jonas was waiting for Mitch to do something, anything, but the taller boy just stood there frozen looking at him.

After a couple more long seconds Mitch pursed his lips and spun on his heel and walked back the direction he was coming from. To be completely honest with himself, Jonas really didn’t know what he expected from Mitch when they saw each other again. But it clearly wasn’t this.

He couldn’t get rid of the deadpan look all the rest of the way to class. Mitch had the nerve to just walk away from Jonas after he had been waiting for this moment for a whole god damn year. He wanted to punch a locker or something, this was ridiculous!

Jonas didn’t try to sneak into the class or be discrete he was too distracted. So he just walked in while the teacher was talking, and sat down next to his sister folding his arms and pouting.

She looked at him strangely, probably having a bunch of questions, such as, “Where were you?” or “Why did you look so disheartened, JoJo?”

But she wasn’t going to get answers because he didn’t want to talk about it. He felt like a child again after Dean told him he couldn’t get a boa constrictor for his birthday for the fifth time.

He was in a shitty mood the whole day because of Bitchell, and he couldn’t concentrate on anything because he was looking for him the whole time. It was a fucking nightmare.

Even at lunch, the taller teen wasn’t there, Jonas understands that Mitch didn’t like him, but he wasn’t _that_ bad. Jonas was becoming hysterical so he wasn’t even trying to pay attention to all the other potential victims, it was a loss any way he looked at it.

The block after lunch was Environmental Science and Jonas could not be happier since he would probably be able to get some sleep, which he desperately needed. So he took one of the desks at the back of the room for good measure and was ready to settle down while the class was getting started when Mitch burst through the door out of breath and sweaty. As this happened Jonas had a nice nostalgic throwback to when he first met Mitch.

The other boy looked wildly around the room looking for a place to sit when he finally his line of sight landed on Jonas. Who by now was pulling the empty desk next to him closer, wearing a shit-eating grin making him look like the Grinch.

“My desk…” Mitch muttered looking confused.

“Everything alright, Mitchell?”

He let out a broken sigh closing his eyes, “Just _great_ , Mr. Newman.”

Mitch made his way towards Jonas seeming like a kicked puppy as if he was waiting for someone to come and save him, but no one did.

He slowly sat down as if trying not to make a sound, and Mr. Newman started talking again. For way too long Mitch didn’t do anything, just started taking notes, not looking at Jonas.

_When did Mitch Mueller become too good for me?_ Jonas though, acting like a housewife whose husband has been spending too much time with his female assistant.

_What’s the point, I can still get a nap if I really try._ Crossed Jonas’ mind, when like an angel being heard through the divine, Mr. Newman said they had to partner up. And who was looking desperately for a partner?

Jonas wrapped an arm around Mitch’s neck and offered, “Guess we’ll be spending a lot of _long_ nights together _studying_ , huh?”

The other boy looked like he was going to throw up, “Lucky me….”

Looking down at the paper that was handed out for the project Jonas saw that the project was going on for two weeks, that would definitely be enough time.

But Mitch didn’t seem to like that so he said, “Y-you know Jonas I could do the whole project, I mean you just got back, no need for you to work too hard. A-and you will still get credit.” he looked like he was stretching for a reason for Jonas to leave him alone, and he wasn’t having it.

“And make you work on it all by yourself Bitchell, never. Don’t want to be that kind of guy. Also, we have so much to catch up on.” He knew he was being cruel, but it was worth it from the way Mitch started blushing from his forehead to his neck.

The rest of the hour went without anything interesting happening, but Jonas could see that Mitch couldn’t focus and was playing with his hands and pencil. Clearly, he was on edge and Jonas was aware that was because of him.

When the bell rang Mitch was out of the door before Jonas could register what was going on. His long legs making him go faster then Jonas could ever keep up.

_Whatever I will catch him later…._

________________________

After a long, hard first day, Jonas was ready to go home and do nothing but sleep and eat. He knew Dean would never let him go to the skatepark because his guardian was extremely aware that almost everyone there smoked pot and did other drugs, so he wasn’t even going to try.

And Maddie wasn’t helping as she wasn’t shutting up about how Twenty one Pilots was the best band that ever graced the public’s ears, and that, “Tyler Joseph is so hot, I would kill someone just for him to talk to me!”

And Lewis was going on about how hot some girl, Jonas didn’t even know, was. He was tired of it, and Jonas seriously considering going in front of one of the buses and ending it all. When Mitch out of seemingly nowhere was able to be seen in the crowd with his group of friends Jonas never really talked to before. Expect for Crystal who was always looking out for Mitch, and didn’t let anyone give him a hard time.

Back in Freshman year she attacked a kid after he allegedly stole some money from her bag, it was like 5 dollars, but she jumped on him after school. It was insane, Jonas was one of the fortunate ones who saw the whole thing, the girl tried to claw the guy's damn eyes out. But she wasn’t expelled as it was off school property, and he moved away a few months later. That’s where she got the nickname, "Scratch" but she never let anyone use it.

Jonas left the one-sided conversation he was having with Lewis and practically ran up to met with Mitch.

“Mit!” He had to shout to be heard over the sound of people walking out the building, but luckily he did hear him and turned around.

“We just can’t fucking seem to stop running into each other today!” He yelled while swaggering over to meet him. Just before he got to the taller teen, someone stood in front of him.

It was Crystal looking very pissed off, but also seeming to have a cool calculating presence, “Don’t you have anything better to do than be a _dick_ all the time?”

“Did I ask you Scratch?” Her face changed to a very clear furious expression at this point, “And me and Mitchy have things to do, we need to work on a fucking English project or something.”

“Environmental Science,” Mitch added in unhelpfully.

“Yeah _that_ , so I am sure you can handle leaving him with me for a few hours.” Crystal looked at her other friends as if to decide if Mitch should go. The big one with the glasses just shrugged, and the other blond one said in a clearly fake British accent, “It wouldn’t hurt.”

“ You sure you’ll be okay?” She whispered to Mitch, he just nodded sadly and went to Jonas.

“That's the spirit, now where are we going Honors Student?” Jonas encouraged as the two wandered away from school.

“Oh, um, you what me to decide where to go?”

Jonas stared at him as if he was stupid, “Did I fucking stutter or something?”

Mitch looked down embarrassed, “Sorry… But maybe we could go to the forest as that was where most of the flood damage came from, and since that did have a long-term effect on the environment it would work for the project. If you don’t mind walking that far.”

“Yeah, no problem.” The rest of the way was in awarded silence that Jonas didn’t know how to fill, he wanted to ask what had been going on, but that would sound like he and Mitch were friends or something.

So he just had to deal with it for the time being, but when they had been in the forest for a few minutes Mitch asked, “Have you heard any animals in a while? Because it's really quiet.”

“Well, whatever the hell was looking for it sure isn’t here. Why the hell did you drag me out here in the first place Bitchell?”

Mitch looked at him with a wary expression painted on his face, “ _Your_ the one who told me I could choose where we went.”

“ **Whatcha say**?”

Mitch suddenly stopped, and looked in front of them, he seemed surprised and confused.

“What is that doing here?” It was a fence in the middle of the woods, with a big yellow sign reading, “No Trespassing”, and another one saying, “ **WARNING** ELECTRIC”.

He went towards the fence and brought his hand to the sign, “I wonder what’s it hading?” Jonas asked. And Mitch was clearly not expanding for Jonas to say anything, so when he did Mitch jumped almost two feet in the air.

Jonas couldn’t help but burst out laughing, and Mitch uncomfortably straightened his shirt.

Another moment of silence passed over the two, and Jonas was ready to do anything to make it stop, so he made another stupid decision…. He touched the fence and pretend to be electrocuted to get Mitch's attention. The boy sprung into action and yelled, “JONAS!”

Again Jonas laughed but he felt bad as Mitch looked actually frightened by what he did.

“ _What is wrong with you_ , that could have seriously hurt yo-H-hey what are you doing!?!”

He ordered as he saw Jonas start to climb the metal, but Jonas was too preoccupied to listen, as he was having a hard time trying to get up. He had always been good at getting up trees as a kid as he did it all the time in the backyard, but his foot kept getting caught, and it was very unstable and didn’t stop moving.

As he was struggling to get to the other side he heard Mitch exhale and walked towards him. And he also heard him ask the question, “Do you need help?”

“No I don’t fucking need help Mit, I’m doing just fine.” Jonas gazed down and saw Mitch give him a skeptical look as if to say, “You sure about that?”

Maybe Mitch changed more than he ordinarily thought, as a younger version of him would never question Jonas’ authority.

He felt Mitch’s hands try and lift his feet up, and he was surprisingly strong, bring up Jonas with ease. It made Jonas feel a little embarrassed as he realized he was making the kid he “bullied” help him climb a fence to reach an area that they are not allowed to go to. And it was obvious he didn’t want to be there, it was strange but curiosity was getting the best of him so he just rolled with it.

He was able to make it to the other side and was a little out of breath. He turned to see that Mitch still hadn’t followed him. “You coming Mit?”

The boy looked at him with blush dusting his face, probably from helping Jonas up. That kid got embarrassed so easily so it wasn't much of a shock to Jonas.

“N-no, are you crazy? We could get in trouble, or even arrested for going on private property.”

“Yeah yeah, I get. Just go back to your friends, they’ll take care of you. It’s not like you can make your own choices, or have a little fun. But yeah, whatever….”

Jonas began to stroll away, then he heard the fence whine and creak from Mitch’s weight and he could hear Mitch grunting behind him, trying to meet up with Jonas.

_I guess it worked. Maybe Mitch did really become different._ Jonas thought smugly.

Mitch wandered passed him, and he looked around them scratching his seeming disoriented by it all.

“I have lived near these woods my whole life and never seen that fence. Why would it be here?” Mitch said more to himself than anyone else. But Jonas didn’t know how to answer him, he has never seen the ugly thing either.

“Well, we can find out if you come with me…” Jonas sang to grab Mitch’s attention, it worked as he practically came running to get to him.

It was only a couple of minutes before they made it to something suspicious, the sounds of voices filled the previously quiet forest.

The two boys ran to the nearest secluded area to avoid being seen, “I told you we were going to be caught.” Mitch whispered in a hushed voice.

But before he could say anything else Jonas put his hand up to stop him and said, “What is this place?”

It was a huge building with an extremely modern design, glass windows all over it. It was jarring to see, they both just looked at it for a while.

Jonas slowly moved forward to see if there was anyone inside when fell over the edge. He landed in a puddle of dark oil and caught himself with his hands. Jonas couldn’t help but yelp, “FUCK!” As the mysterious liquid got all over him. Mitch was not far behind as he wanted to help Jonas up.

“You okay?” He asked sounding scared.

“Yeah, fucking fan-tas-tic. Uh, I got my t-shirt fucking dirty.”

“Don’t worry it looks about the same as before,” Mitch reassured clearly trying to fight the grin that was forming on his face.

“Don’t need your shit right now Bitchell. Ugh, what the fuck ever is this stuff?” He groaned as he started wiping the stuff on Mitch’s clothes much to his dismay.

“ **HEY WHAT DO YOU KIDS THINK you're DOING HERE**!?!” A voice yelled from the doors of the building.

_Shit._ Was the only thing Jonas thought as the two teens started running up the small hill to get away from the person in a yellow hazmat suit.

_This isn’t good, this isn’t good, this isn’t good….Fuck, fuck, fuck!_

The world around Jonas seemed to blur, all he could see was green and his way forward. He had no idea how long he had been running but it felt like an eternity. Truth be told, he hadn’t run like this since he graffitied the corner store in town when he was 15. But he had a feeling that getting caught by these people, he would be in a lot more trouble.

He broke out into a clearing when he heard his name being called by Mitch, but he also could hear the sound of a car coming closer to the both of them. He hurried to reach him when he did he saw the older boy looking around desperately for a way out.

He looked like he was about to call out Jonas’ name again, but before he could Jonas pulled him behind a tree. Pulling him down to meet his sightline, and putting his finger to his lips to tell him to keep quiet.

They waited for what felt like hours for the car to speed past, after a few more moments of silence Jonas broke it by cracking up.

“That was fucking awesome dude, I didn’t think Shellwood would be this interesting!”

Mitch snapped back up and looked furious, “Do you have any idea on what we just did, the police could be looking for us now!”

He racked his big hands through his hair, breathing heavily. Jonas placed an awkward hand on Mitch’s bony shoulder. His face went red and he looked down, letting out a deep breath.

“Come on it’ll be fine, they probably didn’t even see us,” Jonas answered not really seeming convinced by what he said.

“They definitely have cameras and the guy _saw_ us! Why did I even follow you?”

“Calm your tits, we’ll be fine Mit.”

“Yeah, whatever. I have to go, Crystal is waiting for me. See you at school.” Mitch replied sounding exhausted.

Jonas watched him go off into the woods without saying anything back, feeling strange for a reason he can’t quite figure out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No matter the universe Joey loves his naps and that is the way it should be in all honesty. By the way, I will probably get the next chapter out in the next week. See you then!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry I didn't update when I said I was going too. I got a really bad cold, so I didn't have the time nor the energy to write. But we are back on schedule, so I will update next week. Also, there is a part i this chapter where Mitch experiences a panic attack, so if that makes you uncomfortable then skip over it! Other than that, hope you enjoy!

Of course, when Jonas got home it was a shitstorm of questions from Dean on where he had been, and “You should have called me”. Jonas could handle it mostly because he was just too tired to fight, Dean could insult him as much as he wanted but Jonas was not in the mood to question the man’s authority.

When he got upstairs and was finally able to take shower, he peeled off his dirty and clearly ruined clothes off and threw them on the bathroom floor.

Looking at his chubby frame in the mirror, Jonas felt vulnerable and out in the open. He never liked seeing his body like this, he always wore baggy things to make it less noticeable. But he really couldn’t hide at the moment, and it made him want to hit something. Punch away the pain.

He looked down at the stretch marks around his stomach that seemed similar to lightning bolts. And his freckles, that he hated, even more, when he was younger. Jonas remembered one time when he was 6his tried to scrub them off, he cried because it hadn’t worked and it just made his skin red and sore.

He hated the feeling of being helpless and weak, he felt pathetic most of the time. To avoid this at Holy Oaks he just distanced himself from everyone else and tried to act edgy and mysterious. He forgot the self-loathing because he had to focus on surviving. That was the only real thing that school was good for.

After about 5 minutes of glaring at the mirror Jonas knew he had to get moving or Dean would come knocking, yelling at him to get out of the shower.

He turned on the hot water and when it got to the temperature of his likely he stepped in, letting it pore over him. He usually takes long showers has it gave him time to think and calm down, but today he actually had a reason to take such a drawn-out one as he wanted to get the oil off him.

It took awhile and he still felt somewhat sticky when he got out. He put on his PJs as he knew that he wasn’t going out anytime soon, so why get dressed again? Jonas walked into his room, looking at the band and horror movies posters that covered the walls. Also seeing the ever-growing mess of things on the floor including clothes, candy wrappers, drumsticks and the guitar he could kind-of play. But one of the strings broke so he hadn’t used it in a while.

 _Maybe I could ask Dean if I could get it fixed._ The thought crossed Jonas’ mind, but then he remembered Dean was mad at him again so he would ask the man in a week or two.

Jonas was about to throw on his headphones when Sidney walked in.

“Hey sorry about Dean, I tried to tell him you were working on a project, but he wouldn't listen.” She said apologetically.

“Don’t worry, he always acts as if he has a 10-foot long rod up his wrinkly ass.”

She lightly giggled at his comment, then she seemed to remember something, “Oh and how was that by the way, did you finally fulfill your twisted fantasy of giving the poor guy a wedgie?”

“No, but it was fine…” He wondered if he should tell her about the weird liquid but decided against it, as he knew she would worry too much about it.

“Well guess what JoJo, a new episode of Heartland came out, and I am ready to watch it with my favorite brother.” She prompted.

Sid had loved horses since she was little, but she was never able to take any lessons so she resorted to watching shitty Canadian TV shows about them instead.

Jonas groaned, “Why can’t you make some of the younger kids watch it with you? It’s so fucking boring, and aren’t you a little too old for a show about ponies?” He complained.

“First off, it is a way for me to decompress. And secondly, aren’t you a little too old to be acting like a schoolyard bully?”

He sighed and walked to the door, “Fine, but only because you tried to cover my ass with Dean.”

Sid clapped her hands together and squealed overdramatically, and Jonas couldn’t help but grin at her.

  **_______________________**

When Mitch made it back to the trailer park he was drained emotionally and physically. But when he opened the door to his crappy excuse of a home, he was glad to see Javier.

Javier is the friend he has known the longest and is also the least judgemental of Mitch’s group of friends, so he was the one Mitch told most everything too.

He was making something foul-smelling in the kitchen and Mitch didn’t want to bother asking what it was.

“Sup man? How was it? I know we kind of hanged you out to dry but-”

“No it’s alright, and it was...fine?” Mitch said this more to convince himself.

Javier adjusted his glasses and looked at Mitch like he could see right through him. “Dude, what actually happened, did he hurt you? Because I can tell Scratch and she’ll be coming after him in a secou-”

“It’s not that, it’s just, well…” Mitch told Javier the whole thing with the strange building, the people in hazmat suits, and the black oil he and Jonas stepped in.

After a couple seconds of silence, Javier howled, “I knew some weird stuff was happening Shellwood! Maybe the government is hiding some information about aliens, or they are conducting some super secret experiment? My Abuela always said there was something else going on in this town, I can’t wait to tell her!”

At the last part, Mitch’s face paled, “Wait, you know you can’t tell anybody about this? Someone saw us and I don’t want the rest of the town knowing that me and Jonas were the ones who found the place.”

“Duuuude,” Javier practically whined, “Imagine the shit that goes down there, I swear to god. You are lucky we are such good friends because I would make one of my cousins beat you up or something.”

Mitch just rolled his eyes and sat down on the dirty old couch, that they had for who nos long.

“And if you get superpowers for the toxic stuff, I want you to tell me right away because I want to be your loser sidekick.”

“Haha, whatever you say Javi…”

**_______________________**

That night the thoughts in Jonas’ head didn’t seem to want to go away, so it was taking him forever to fall asleep. He was mostly worried about the “lab”, or at least that's what he decided to call it for now.

_What Mitch is right, will they come looking for us or something? Fuck._

But this was getting tiring, so he tried to count backward from one hundred to do the trick, that always worked… 100, 99, 98, 97,96,95,94,93,92...

_He was back at Holy Oaks and it was different. But it was the kind of different that you didn’t notice at first, even so, Jonas became aware of it after a few seconds of looking around. It was darker and the walls felt as if they were becoming smaller as time went on. Jonas heard the sound of organized marching they had to do every day. As it “built character”, or at least that is what they said._

_Jonas had to get out, he had to get home, had to get to Sidney. He couldn’t stay here again. He started to run, but as he kept moving the sound of boys marching only grew louder, more suffocating. It was getting hard to move, the booming shook Jonas to his core._

_He couldn’t help but cover his ears to try and block it out, but it didn’t help. He had stopped walking and dropped to the ground, he pulled his hands from his ears as he felt something wet was coming from them._

_It was blood. Warm, red blood._

_Jonas let out a broken shattering scream. He wanted it to stop, he wanted to die, it hurt too much._

No- I have to get to Sidney. _That thought gave him the strength to keep on going._

_He got up one more time, he walked slowly for what felt like hours. He then turned a counter, knowing that was probably a way out. That’s when he says him._

_“MITCH!”_

_The other boy looked sad, staring at the wall to the right of him. But it seemed the sound wasn’t affecting him at all._

_“Mitch!” Jonas called, and he finally turned to him. But his eyes had a glassy effect to them as if he was zoning out._

_“Mitch please- we have to found a way out of her-please I-I…” Jonas tried again but Mitch still hadn’t moved a muscle._

_The freckled boy began walking again, forcing himself to get to Mitch. But there was something on the floor he hadn’t noticed before. It was the pitch black oil from the lab, it covered the ground._

_More of it began coming from seemingly nowhere, slowing raising. Jonas frantically looked around, trying to find the source of it, but it was nowhere to be seen. He knew he had to get out of here, NOW._

_He was halfway to Mitch and it was up to his knees, he didn’t have much time left. But when he started to walk faster the amount of oil grew more. It was almost a lost cause, and the sound of marching was still there. But that didn’t matter, Jonas just had to survive._

_Jonas was almost to Mitch, just an arm’s length away.  He couldn’t breathe, the fumes coming from the liquid were suffocating him. He wasn’t going to make it, he tried one last time to call out Mitch’s name. But before he could his head went under, oil filling his lungs._

Jonas woke up hyperventilating, his lungs begging for air.

_What the fuck happened. God, it was just a dream, just a dream._

It took Jonas a couple minutes to calm down, but it also took him a couple of minutes for him to become aware of the floating lights around his room.

Red, blue, yellow, and mostly green stripes of colors were surrounding Jonas.

He finally came to his senses and proclaimed loudly, “HOLY SHIT!” And once again Jonas was plunged into darkness, as the lights faded away.

**_______________________**

Mitch slammed his locker shut out of pure frustration, as Crystal wouldn’t stop lecturing him on why he has to learn to get out of the house on time...Again.

“I _said_ I was sorry. I didn’t mean too, okay.”

The short girl just rolled her eyes, “That’s a lame excuse and you know it, Mitch. Hey! Don’t walk away from me!”

But Mitch was not in a mood today to deal with being scolded like a child so he kept walking. He hadn’t felt good since the incident with Jonas, as he suspected those people will probably come looking for them. He knew that he is worrying was more severe because of his anxiety, but that fact didn’t help at all.

He walked through the crowd looking at the blurry faces as almost everyone was rushing to get to class. He couldn’t wait to get out of here, to freedom, to something better.

Mitch was pulled from his thoughts as he heard his name being called by someone, most likely Crystal; as she was never one to let someone else get the last word in an argument. But to his surprise it was Jonas, he looked tired and jittery with dark circles around his hazel eyes. He kind of reminded Mitch of the druggies down at the trailer park, but more put together then a lot of them.

Jonas reached Mitch and said in a breathless voice, “Mitch I have to talk to you. Some weird shit went down last night, and I think it has something to do with the stuff we found yesterday. I woke up and there were a bunch of lights everywhere…”

Mitch had no idea what he was talking about and decided to just nod his head. After a while of thinking of what he wanted to say, he answered with, “Maybe you should get some sleep, you seem tired. It could have just been a dream or something.” He tried, knowing he sounded desperate as he was obviously trying to get out of the conversation. It was just being around Jonas made him even more nervous than he already was.

Jonas clearly not satisfied with that replied and responded almost angrily with, “No it wasn’t a dream, it was real. I-I know it sounds bat-shit crazy but you have to believe me.” He ranked a hand through his unruly hair and sighed.

“Let me show you, I just have to concentrate…” He begged as he put his hands in front of him trying to do something Mitch didn’t understand.

Of course, it didn’t work, just like Mitch suspected. But Jonas looked so disappointed, he felt kind of bad.

Jonas let out an angry huff, “I don’t know why it isn’t working, they wouldn’t calm the fuck down last night!”

The hallway was growing less crowded and Mitch couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable. As it was clear that Jonas was going through something right now and he didn’t know how to help him.

“Jonas I have to get to class and I think you should too…”

Jonas’ hands curled into a fist and for a split second something red flashed before Mitch's eyes, but it was gone before he could truly register it, “Fine, whatever! I get it you don’t believe me, it is pointless to even try.” The darker skinned boy began to walk off seeming like he wanted to fight something, and Mitch was thankful that he wasn’t the thing he decided to throw fights at.

He was going to be late for class if he didn’t start moving now, but he still looked back for a few more seconds as Jonas turned the corner.

**_______________________**

Jonas had skipped most of his morning classes for the first part of the day, not wanting to deal with having to learn useless information at the moment. He was furious with his “powers” because as soon as he left Mitch they worked up again. Red and yellow pretty much exploded from him, _Wow thanks, universe, now my powers work! Just great, I definitely need another person at this shitty school to think I’m insane._

But it was lunch now, and he could see Mitch talking in hushed whispers to his friends at their table. Probably talking about some nerdy shit, like science or Magic: The Gathering, Jonas suspected. He glared at them, trying to mentally force Mitch to look at him, but it wasn’t working.

Jonas gave up and sat down next to Sidney, they were the only ones at the table today. As Lewis was with his Basketball friends, and Madison was gossiping with some girls he didn’t know on the other side of the room.

“Hey whats up, lil bro?” Sidney smiled, “Why are you always looking so down?”

“Nothing…”

She stared at him obviously not believing him, “JoJo I’m not dumb, somethings wrong. You have been acting weird all mourning, you didn't even eat Sue’s pancakes at breakfast.” Her voice was caring and loving.

“I _said_ I was fine, you don’t have to baby me.”

Silence came over them after Jonas said that, he knew he probably hurt her feelings. But before he could hurriedly apologize, a shadow of another person loomed over the two of them.

Jonas turned to see that it was no other than Neil, up close Jonas could see that he still hadn’t gotten his buck teeth fixed.

“Well well, if it isn’t Jonas Wagner. It sure has been a while since you were shipped off to military school for being a little piece of shit. Guess your folks couldn’t handle you anymore, truth be told, I was hoping you got deported. But that was ignorant of me if that were to happen your little food stamps sister would be gone too.”

Jonas just rolled his eyes, as the “rich kid asshole” act was getting old and Jonas had met much worse. Neil was like an annoying pest, definitely not worth Jonas’s time.

But he saw the way his sister looked as if she was about to cry, now that is when he got angry. He stood up abruptly, making the bench on which he had been sitting on moved back.

“Now listen here, I am just trying to have lunch. But if you don’t wanna walk out of here with all your nasty teeth missing you better leave me the fuck alone.”

The boy leered at Jonas and teased, “ If you put a finger on _me_ fat ass, you won’t be sent off to boarding school again, you’ll being going to jail.”

Jonas felt his blood boil, he didn’t care that people were looking at him, or that in a minute a teacher would come running in to stop the two of them. Jonas could see Mitch was gaping at him from the back of the cafeteria with an expression of fear and confusion, even that didn’t bother him either as Mitch already thought he was crazy. He was also completely oblivious to the reason Mitch was looking at him so strangely. But before he could do anything about Neil, he felt a hand on his arm.

  
It was Sid, her eyes pleading for Jonas to stop. She knew the consequences if he did something that drastic. Jonas looked down at the table, his way of showing he was backing down from the fight.

Neil let out his snotty, obnoxious laugh, leaning to Jonas’ level and sneering, “Now that’s what I thought. Welcome back to Shellwood Mrs. Butterworth.”

He and his group friend stomped off in a riot, and Jonas regretted not punching the bastard. He let out a shaky breath, squeezing his eyes shut, and trying to make the ringing in his ears stop. He finally spoke up, “I’m sorry, I could have done something really fucking dumb.”

“It’s okay, you shouldn’t worry about it. He was being a jerk, but it wasn’t worth it…” She said while hurriedly trying to wipe a tear from her cheek, Jonas hated seeing her like this.

They ate lunch and tried at some small talk, but he also saw that Mitch keep looking at him the whole time. Seeming like he was trying to solve an extremely hard math problem. One time when Jonas caught him staring he winked at him, just to see how the other boy’s reaction. Mitch’s face was by far the best part of his day.

And when it came time to get to Environmental Science,  Jonas was ready to confront Mitch and prove to him that those light things were _real_.

When his beat-up sneakers make it to the door of the classroom, he could see that it was just about to start. He got to Mitch who was already there, looking nervous and tapping his long thin fingers on his desk. It seemed like he wanted to say something, but was waiting for the right time to do so.

When Mr. Newman started to speak, Mitch blurted quickly, “I saw them,” There was a pause as he must have realized that Jonas needed further explanation, “I-I mean with the lights… When you were talking to Neil they showed up ar-around your hands…”

Jonas looked over at Mitch wearing his classic sleazy smirk, that Mitch seemed to not appreciate.

“I guess someone _finally_ came around, you really are a hard one to sway-” Mitch looked like he wanted to defend himself but Jonas wasn’t done, as he brought out his hands from under the desk to show Mitch something. It was the ball of yellow light, almost like the sun, hovering over Jonas’ freckled palm. He tried to make it seem as if it was easy to control, but it was draining his energy.

Mitch seemed shocked and amazed, but that quickly faded as he came to his sense and clamped his hand over Jonas’ to make it go away.

“Are you crazy!?!” He said for probably the fifth time in the last 24 hours, “You can’t just go doing that stuff in front of people!” He whispered in a desperate voice clearly making attempt to make it clear what Jonas was doing was dangerous.

Mitch seemed to become aware that he was still “holding” Jonas’ hand and he quickly pulled back. He looked flustered with his eyes going wide and his face turning a dark shade of pink.

But Jonas couldn’t help but smile at the embarrassed teen, “Dude it’s fine, no one's paying us any fucking attention.”

“Fine, okay… But we need to figure this out.” He took a moment to think and Jonas waited for his reply, “We should talk about it after school if that’s fine with you?”

“ _Welllll_ … I’m going to need your number, so I can find where you are and stuff.” Jonas said nonchalantly.

Mitch didn’t seem to like that but he eventually let out a sad little, “Fine.”

**_______________________**

Mitch was waiting outside with his friends as Jonas was running late for a reason Mitch was unaware of. It was getting frustrating, and Mitch couldn’t help but become angsty.

Javier and Cliff were arguing about Cliff’s “accent”, “Okay you and I both know that you have never left the country, much less this state, and we have literally lived in the same trailer park for years! Who are you trying to fool man?” Javier nagged, but Mitch couldn’t blame him as everyone in their small group of friends has been questioning him for years about it. But he never gave them a straight answer, of course, they knew he was trying to overcompensate and act all sophisticated to impress people, still didn’t make it any less annoying.

Mitch once again looked at his phone, still no answer. But he couldn't help but smile, he had gone Jonas Wagner’s number! He knew it was for other reasons than them actually being friends and wanting to talk to each other outside of school, but still.

Thinking about Jonas made him like always, feel kind of warm and fuzzy. It was pathetic he knew, but the way he smiled, and that wink at lunch… It was too much and with this new development with the lights, he didn’t have time to think of silly little crush that was an obviously straight guy.

He must have been wearing a dopey smile as Crystal asked, “What’s wrong with you? Something or someone on your mind Lover-boy?”

Mitch was caught off guard by the question as he thought no one had been paying him any attention, he chirped out a weak and unconvincing, “No.”

Crystal grinned and reach for his phone, he made a fail attempt to stop her. But she was fast and able to grab it out of his large clammy hands.

She was still smiling when she looked down at the device but it quickly faded as she saw the contact name.

“Jonas! Why the hell do you have that jackass’ number!?!”

Her loud remark made the other boys at the table stop their conversation to instead listen to theirs.

“I just need it for the project were doing!” He explained too fast for it to be believable.

Everyone at the table collectively raised their eyebrows, not really trusting what Mitch was saying.

“Did he force you too?”

“What no! Of course not, it’s for the project I swear!”

Javier looked at Mitch as if he was trying to solve a mystery, “Something's off…” He said mostly to himself, he did this often when he would go into one of his “moods”.

He reached over the table and poked Mitch’s forehead. He did stuff like this all the time so no one was surprised, but what he said next shocked them all, “You like him, don’t you?”

Mitch nearly fell off the bench he was sitting on.

Javier groaned and rubbed his face in frustration, “I should've known, it was so obvious!”

It was true that Javier had always been good at reading people, and he had known Mitch for so long he pretty much knew him inside and out. But Mitch didn’t want this to be broadcasted to the public right now.

The two others still hadn’t said a word until Crystal reassured, “Mitch we don’t care if your gay or anything and this fact explains _a lot_ … But Jonas Wagner of all people?”

Mitch felt like he wanted to sink into the ground and stay there forever, so he would never have to deal with something like this ever again. But that was impossible at the moment, so he just sighed and buried his face in his hands.

Crystal tried to make him feel better by patting his back to communicate everything will be okay. But she was never the best at helping one in a time of emotional need, as she was not a fan of physical contact and other people touching her. Even so, she was still making an effort.

Cliff seemed somewhat uncomfortable but no one was really focusing on him, all eyes were on Mitch.

“I have to go, I said I would meet him for the assignment…” He clearly didn’t want to be there, so his friends let him go without saying another word.

 **_______________________** ****

“Hey where were you, I have been waiting for a while for you,” Mitch called to him as Jonas met up with the anxious-looking boy.

“Don’t get your panties in a twist Mit, I had to catch up with an old friend,” Jonas replied quickly, not even looking at Mitch as he passed by expecting him to follow.

Unbeknownst to Mitch that “old friend” was the Principal. As she had called him into her office to explain how Jonas was on “Thin ice” and she expected more from him this year. Along with the threat of if he caused any trouble, she wouldn’t hesitate to suspend or even expel him.

But Jonas didn’t need her threats, he had other stuff to worry about if he made a big mistake at school. He threw down his skateboard and began to slowly glide across the pavement, a nice California breeze hit Jonas and he couldn’t help but smile a little bit.

Mitch wasn’t far behind, but he was keeping his distance. Until they made it through a small cul-de-sac and he asked, “What is the plan exactly?”

“I think we should go to the lab to see what is going o-”

“Are you sure that is a good idea? It could be dangerous?”

Jonas let out a huff, “I don’t give a rat’s ass on if it's dangerous or not. I want to know why I am a living lava lamp before I give a fuck if they catch me.”

“I was wondering about that… It is strange that I haven't started being able to create electromagnetic radiation yet?”

“Dude last time I checked I can’t control magnets or whatever the fuck you are talking about.”

Mitch let out an exasperated sigh and responded with, “Jonas I know you are not that clueless, you are not fooling anybody.”

Jonas wanted to argue because he actually had no idea what Mitch was talking about, but before he could they reached the forest. And they were faced with bigger problems then Jonas’ lack of scientific knowledge.

“Okay,” Jonas said slowly, “I guess we should try and find out what that black stuff is, maybe get a bit of it.”

“Oh, yeah! We could take some and bring it to the science lab at school to put it under a microscope to see the periodic elements of the material.” Mitch announced excitedly, his eyes lighting up.

He started towards the woods, and Jonas put his board under his arm ready to go.

When they made it to the fence off area and climbed over it once again. Jonas, thankfully, had an easier time with getting over as he had a better understanding of the best way to do it without having Mitch help him.

But before they could get there the shine of a car headlight could be seen through the trees. It was once again, one of the black cars that seemed to be following them throughout the day. It was speeding down a dirt road the boys had crossed a couple minutes ago.

Both Jonas and Mitch went down, waiting for it to pass by. The shorter of the two tried to keep his lights under control as they started to act up again, mostly just around his hands. But still, he wasn’t trying to create a neon sign that he and Mitch were there.

Mitch's shaky voice broke the silence after a few seconds, “I-I think we should g-go back.”

“No, I have a better idea. I know a place we can chill for a while, so they don’t catch us or something.”

Mitch didn’t look so sure, but Jonas wasn’t going to wait for his answer. He began walking towards a very familiar path to the cove in which he and Sid had played a lot at when they were younger. Eddy an old foster kid at the house, showed Jonas one day when he was in about 6th grade. The only other person Jonas showed the secluded spot to was his sister.

The way to the beach was going down a wall of rocks, that looked like they would fall apart as soon as you put your foot on it, to step down. But Jonas didn’t care, he was looking forward to going down there and exploring. Since he hadn’t gone to the cove in the past year and hadn’t checked up on it over the summer. He kind-of forgot about it, in all honesty.

He was trying to find the best way to not land on his ass. When Mitch got to him seeming somewhat scared, for some reason Jonas couldn’t tell, as there was a lot to be scared about right now.

But Jonas didn’t pay him much attention as he made his way down the hill to the sandy floor. Mitch, on the other hand, was taking his sweet time, probably since he thought he might fall. And Jonas should have been thinking the same thing and be more reasonable because just a few moment later the material he was standing on gave out from under him.

He didn’t even have time to yell a curse before Mitch exclaimed, “Jonas!”

Jonas shut his eyes ready for the feeling of pain when he would hit the ground, but it didn't come. All he heard was Mitch gasp, and Jonas slowly opened his eyes to see what had happened. He was more than shocked to see he was suspended in the air, and that Mitch seemed to be the one doing it.

It took both the boys sometime before they fully understood what was happening, and once they did they both screamed almost in unison. Jonas landed on the soft ground with a thud, and Mitch was quickly scampering to reach him.

“You alright?” Mitch questioned, clearly shaken by what had happened. And Jonas really didn’t know what just happened.

Mitch had a stream of blood coming down from his nose, it must have come from the levitating thing, Jonas thought.

Jonas let out a laugh and muttered, “I guess ya got fucking powers too, huh?”

Mitch looked down at his hands, tilting his head, “Yeah..” He lifted his arms, looking like he was concentrating on something, and Jonas felt his baseball cap be lifted off his head. He pulled it back down while saying a muffled, “Hey!”

But the other boy still looked kind of out of it, “This... This is a lot to handle right now.”

Jonas was still smiling and noticed his light had begun to move around, this time a shade of yellow. It was a much nicer color than green, and it felt great to let the lights do their own thing then having to force them to do anything.

He couldn’t help himself and started to run after them as if they were a pretty butterfly getting away. Another giggle bubbled up, and he didn’t even try to hide it.

“Wow, they are beautiful.” Mitch’s voice drew Jonas out of his own thoughts. The light illuminated his features and his eyes were fixated on the colors surrounding them both. And Mitch was right it did look amazing but noticed there was an expression Mitch’s face that Jonas had never seen him wear before.

Pure happiness and childlike wonder. Staring at him made Jonas feel something almost pull at his heart. To be completely honest with himself he felt a bit unsettled by it, as he didn’t know what it meant. But he was able to pull himself together.

“Yeah, their fucking SICK! Now let's see what yours can do, yeah?”

Mitch seemed unsure as he must have thought people may see them, but after some bugging from Jonas, he started to lift a few pebbles and seashells around.

Jonas just shook his head, as if he was unimpressed, “Oh come on, you can do better than that Bitchell! Put some effort into it, I want to see the fire in your eyes.”

Mitch grunted and turned to an especially big rock and it began to raise, Jonas didn’t mean that huge but he wasn’t complaining. But after he saw that some blood was coming down Mitch’s neck, Jonas told him it was probably best to stop. To convey the message he placed a hand on the taller boy’s shoulder, causing him to drop the boulder suddenly.

Jonas must have realized he made a mistake as Mitch didn’t seem to like that, and moved a good 5 feet away from Jonas after that. Jonas completely forgot that Mitch probably was still somewhat fearful of him, since Jonas had been mean and a bully to him since, well, forever.

Whenever the boy got to close, Mitch seemed to flinch. Jonas had tried to ignore it, but he felt like a jerk for giving this kid a hard time for so long. That he made Mitch feel like Jonas was going to punch him any second.

In reality, Jonas had never actually hit Mitch, just called him lame nicknames and teased him to some degree. But it never went physical, he only ever hurt someone if they were testing him.

Mitch kept his space for a bit, while he practiced moving things with his mind, or at least, that is what Jonas thought was how Mitch’s powers work.

They didn’t say much until Mitch abruptly picked up his things and looked like he was about to leave, “Wait where are you going, we just got here!” Jonas called after him, as the freckled teen tried to get out of the ocean as fast as he could. He had been testing if the lights worked underwater, much to his surprise and delight they had.

Mitch exhaled, “I have to get home, and it’s beginning to get dark.”

Jonas looked at the sky and saw Mitch was right, maybe the two of them had been there longer than he thought. But Jonas had a feeling that wasn’t the reason Mitch was going, even so, he didn’t try and stop him.

“And also I don't think we should go telling people about our situation...It could be risky you know.”

"Yeah, don’t worry I won’t tell.”

**_______________________**

After the announcements on the loudspeakers, Mitch had to run to the bathroom, as he had a feeling that he going to through another panic attack. He has had them so many times he understands when one is coming on.

It always started with an overwhelming feeling of nausea and then it felt as if he couldn’t breathe as if something was blocking his throat. It lasted for about 15 minutes, for the most part, they were coming more frequent with Senior year starting, mostly because there was so much to worry about. His college acceptance letter was coming sometime in the next few months, and that was stressing him to no end. Also with the new development with his and Jonas’ powers, it was all coming to a head with the threat of these government people, Mitch was guessing, were after them.

He burst into the bathroom feeling like he was going to get sick, and the room wouldn’t stop spinning. He knew these were common symptoms because he did extensive research on the topic. Since learning about things that were happening to him always made him calmer, then he was able to understand it better.

But this time felt different, the air was heavier, making it even more hard to get oxygen into his lungs. Mitch realized it was probably his powers, with which he had been practicing all night. It was insane, it was as if his life was taken right out of a science fiction movie. It reminded him of how much he wanted to be a superhero when he was little, wanting to be able to project his mom and stuff from his step-dad. But this… this was different, and not as fun as he would have imagined.

He suddenly heard the sound of something loud, and it was coming from the sink. He also noticed a few stray objects were flying across the room, but he couldn’t tell if that was because of him or the panic attack. Yet before Mitch could stop it, an unexpected burst of water came from the pipes under the sink.  

Mitch was hit full on, and after he was dripping wet. He stood still for a couple of seconds to make sure everything was real, and much to his disappointment it was actually happening. He also didn’t try to do anything as he waited for his breathing to calm down and for the stomach ache to cease.

After for what felt like hours, Mitch walked out of the room to got to the Lost and Found to find some new clothes to wear because he refused to wear a soaked outfit for the rest of the day. He ruffled his previously greasy hair in an attempt to dry it, but it was pointless.

 _Man, I bet that would be hilarious if I wasn’t the one who was hit with gross pimp water, Freddie would have been in hysterics._ Mitch smiled a bit at the thought of his late brother, who was never the best person, but Mitch used to think he was godlike. Sure his brother would call him a “Nerd” or a “Smartass” but Mitch knew he had loved him either way.

As Mitch was passing the trophy cabinet he saw out of the corner of his eye, the one, and only Jonas Wagner storm out of one of the classrooms. Slamming the door behind him.

He looked like he was in no mood to be disturbed but Mitch was worried he would do something stupid to do with his powers. He followed him down the corridor to the exit door, which Jonas, again, throw open and slammed.

When the shorter boy saw Mitch walk out of the building behind him, he got even more angry, “What the hell are you doing here! I DON’T need a goddamn babysitter!” He kicked over a poor trash can next to him, making everything in it spill over the ground. Bright red lights were all around him

He turned to the brick wall beside him and screamed, making the lights make a cut into the building. Mitch had no idea Jonas could do that, and guessing form Jonas’ face he didn’t know about it either.

After that, he seemed to calm down, and Mitch had the courage to ask, “What happened, what’s the matter?”

Jonas’ expression softened to some degree and he crossed his arms, a clear sign he didn’t want to talk about it.

“I should be asking you the same fucking question Mit, what’s up with the water?” He inquired while pointing at Mitch’s blue button-up shirt.

Mitch just shook his head and said, “You don’t want to know...But do you want to go back inside, before, you know, get in trouble for the wall problem?”

“Nah, I need to cool off and smoke a cigarette or something, you know?”

“Yeah, yeah…” Mitch paused trying to choose what to say next, when he made the split-second decision, “And meet me at 4:00, so we can go and play with our powers some more.” It felt good to finally have a real excuse to talk to Jonas without it involving the other boy giving him crap about something. They had somewhat of a common ground now.

Jonas tilted his head in a way that was just too cute, Mitch felt kind of silly for thinking Jonas was, “Cute”. But there was something about that boy that made Mitch think and do crazy and irrational things.

“Why 4:00, got some hot girl you meeting up with after school,” Jonas smirked in that devilish way of his.

Mitch couldn’t help but laugh, he wished it was a girl, then his life would be ten times easier. But he kept his mouth shut about that and instead answered with, “No Jonas, I have to meet up with Javier, we have A.V. club together.”

Jonas jokingly slapped his face in fake realization, “Oh sorry Mit, I forgot girls don’t date guys in the A.V. Club. Sorry again that I asked such a fucking dumbass question.”

Mitch rolled his eyes but was grinning from ear to ear, “See you later Jonas.”

“Bye Mitchy boy!” He shouted after him.

**_______________________**

 

Jonas had to wait outside of the school for an hour until Mitch was done with his nerd orgy. So Jonas had some time to kill, he checked his phone, smoked a couple of cigs, and most of all he texted Mitch just to bother him… Or at least that was the basic reasoning he was using for his actions at the moment.

**Jonas: dude when r u coming out??? im so fucking bored bitchell!!!**

**Mitch: I told you at 4, I still have 30 minutes left. Use this time to be a helpful and functioning member of society or something.**

**Jonas: says the lozer in av club or whatever**

**Mitch: I’m not going to keep humoring you Jonas, I told you it would take a while. I am turning off my phone, so stop wasting your battery texting me.**

Jonas waited a few seconds to reply and decided on saying,

**Jonas: bitch**

When Mitch made it out of the building at exactly 4:00 PM, Jonas was thanking Sid over text for covering for him with Sue. She was a lot easier on him then Dean, so he was glad he was at work.

Jonas slipped his bag over his shoulder and questioned Mitch while cleaning under his fingernails, “So where did you have in mind?”

He looked at the pale teen coming towards him. Mitch most of gotten a new pair of clothes as he was wearing an orange sweatshirt, with jeans that were obviously too small for him; since they rose up from his ankles and were too short for his tall frame.

His hair had dried quickly and fell, somewhat, in front of his amber eyes. Jonas had never paid much attention to them as they seemed like normal boring brown eyes, but that was wrong. On a sunny day when it was practically still summer, the sun hit his face and Jonas could see the way his eyes shined in a way he had never noticed before. They were like two vats of melted copper, they held so many different emotions, Jonas could barely comprehend them all at once. They reminded him of the color of whiskey and scotch.

And Jonas was never much for sentiments, but there was something mysterious and compelling about them. It was hard for him to look away, and he must have been gazing at Mitch for too long as he cleared his throat, “You alright Jonas?”

The way he said his name was so calming and soft, it really didn't match up with his deep and gravelly voice. And no one ever talked to Jonas like that, except his sister, of course. Mitch spoke to him like he was a person, not just delinquent who would never amount to anything.

It didn’t make sense as Mitch really had no reason to treat Jonas with this level of respect. All Jonas ever did to Mitch was give him shit and make his life harder. Jonas felt embarrassed and his lungs squeezed in a way that only happened when he saw someone really hot or talked to someone he liked.

 _God, what is wrong with me?_ Jonas thought as his heart fluttered uncomfortably.

Jonas got on his skateboard and started to ride it slowly, so Mitch could keep up. He was slightly aware of the yellow and slightly pink color trail he was leaving behind him with his lights. Jonas was surprised, he had never seen the color pink before with his lights.

“Yeah, let’s get the hell out of here. I can’t believe you forced me to stay in this hell hole a whole another hour.” He explained overdramatically to emphasize his point, trying to cover up acting weird.

Mitch rolled with it and just said, “Just a place, an abandoned housing complex. You know the one?”

Jonas had no idea what he was talking about so he shook his head.

“Well a few years back, some people wanted to build a couple of houses, but the project got left to rot after the flood. It’s not too far, it’s near the trailer park. No one goes around there anymore, so I thought it would be a nice place to work out our powers.” Mitch looked a little unsure as if worried Jonas would back out. But Jonas was thrilled to see the creepy place.

To make small talk Jonas asked about A.V. Club or as he said, “How was the club thing with all the shitty old tech? Why the fuck do you do it anyway?”

Instantly Mitch’s face lit up and he went on this long speech about how they worked on old machines, like filmstrips and film projectors. Mitch said he liked it because it gave him something to do with his hands, and the club helped at the end of the year theater performance in the light and sound booth. Most of it didn’t make sense to Jonas but he didn’t mind, it was just nice to listen to him talk about something he liked.

Jonas mentally slapped himself for thinking something so sappy, he was supposed to be the bully, not the friend! But he would worry about that later because they had made it to the place.

“Ho-ly shit, if I knew there was a place like this I’d be coming here all the fucking time.” Jonas offered as he began climbing over a pile of some rubble. He flicked his hand leading the pretty lights to go around the desolate construction site.

“We can’t go too crazy though, some could see us…” Mitch said sounding worried.

“Whatever _Mom_ , let's have some fucking fun!”

Jonas could see Mitch climb an old rusty piece of equipment and lift up small things around the area. He looked like he was having a good time, but what didn’t notice was Mitch looking like he was up to nothing good.

The tiny rock came fast and when Jonas turned around just in time to stop it, a piece of light cut right through it in one swift motion.

Jonas gave Mitch a scowl, “Woah I forgot I could do that. Better luck next time Bithell.”

They had fun for about an hour just by going around and exploring their powers together. Mitch kept hurling things at Jonas to cut thew and block. Jonas was actually having the best time he has had in awhile.

Both boys were laughing and giggly the whole time, but Jonas was starting to get tired and Mitch seemed like he was as well.

After a quick break to breath, Mitch wondered, “Hey, come with me, I want to show you something really quick.” Jonas followed not far behind.

They both got on top on the roof of a half-finished building that was higher than the others. It looked over the trees so they could see the setting sun and the small town of Shellwood.

After a few moments of quiet Mitch told Jonas, “I come up here when I need to relax or something like that, I hope you like it.” Jonas realized Mitch seemed relaxed yet vulnerable at the same time. As if he was worried Jonas would walk away any minute.

“It’s pretty nice, our own area for us to fuck up!” Jonas chuckled while wrapping his arm around Mitch's neck.

Mitch’s face went a little red, and Jonas decided to ignore that fact because the truth is, he was also blushing a bit himself.

“I never got to ask you why you got angry today.”

Jonas just waved it off and replied with, “The teacher was just giving me shit, it’s no big deal.”

Mitch shook his head laughing, “Geez I never dreamt that I would be hanging out with you, Jonas Wagner. Didn’t think we would be friends, I thought you were gone for good when you were sent off.”

“Wow Mit I am personally affected by that, I always thought we were best buds. But I guess not... I shouldn’t even be hanging out with a nerd like you in the first place.” Jonas grinned, and Mitch smiled beside him. Jonas never noticed how nice his smile was, probably because he never saw it often.

But then a frown replaced his friendly smirk soon after, then he asked, “Why did you have to go anyway?”

Jonas sighed as it was a sore subject but he answered anyway, “Dean was getting tired of my shit, I guess.”

“Dean, who’s Dean?”

“My bitch ass foster parent. His a piece of shit, but at least he didn’t put me back in the system. If he did, I wouldn’t be able to live with Sidney again for a while.”

“Oh, I-I’m sorry.” Mitch’s voice quiet and apologetic, but Jonas didn’t want his sympathy.

Jonas shook his head, “No it’s fine, I just have to survive one more year in this town, then I’m out of here.”

He decided that he wanted to lie down on the cold hard concrete because it was easier to talk about your feelings when you weren’t looking at the other person. Mitch quickly followed suit.

“Me too, I can’t wait to get out of here. I am excited to go to college, won’t miss Shellwood at all.”

“Oh man, I don’t have a long-term plan or anything. Just going to ruff it out, you know.”

Mitch giggled a little at Jonas statement, “Tell me how well that works out for you.”

Jonas lightly punched Mitch's arm, “You can make fun of me all you want, but I’m going to travel the country or something. Live my fucking life for once. You can come with me if you want, explore the world with me Mitchy boy, whatcha say?”

Mitch burst out laughing, and Jonas was amazed by it. Sure Mitch's laugh wasn’t the nicest thing, but it was comforting and warm. The yellow light surrounding them suddenly turned a fluorescent shade of pink.

Jonas abruptly stood up and muttered, “I have to go to the bathroom.”

Jonas had a feeling those pink lights meant something that he really didn’t like.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry again for a late update, but life has been a pain. Hope you like the chapter, we're almost done with the series! Leave kudos or a comment if you want, always love those.

Mitch had been waiting for Jonas for a couple of minutes, and he had begun to get worried.

 _I did something wrong, didn’t I? I probably made him uncomfortable, we were just kind of becoming friends! Oh God, but he said he wanted us to “Explore the world” together!_ Mitch began giggling like a schoolgirl, he realized it most likely had been an off-handed comment. But that didn’t stop his heart from soaring.

His mind began running with the idea of them becoming friends, really good friends. Feelings between them would grow, then while sitting up on the roof of an abandoned housing project Jonas would kiss him while the sun set before them.

Mitch groaned out loud at the absurdity of that daydream because that is all it is, a daydream. Jonas wasn’t gay, and he most certainly didn’t like Mitch, as a friend or otherwise.

Sure he had thought of Jonas kissing him more times then he could count, but this was different somehow. It was almost too much for him to handle. Part of Mitch wanted to jump for joy, while the other part wanted to hide in a corner.

_Uh, this is too much whenever I look at him I can barely breathe. Is this what love feels like because this is terrible… But I better go find him, he may have gotten lost._

“Jonas! Where are you?” Mitch called, hearing his echo repeat him.

He picked up the sound of something moving behind the bushes close to the woods, “Jonas, that you?” Mitch said more cautiously. Still, there was no reply, and suddenly Mitch felt scared.

“Jonas...This isn’t funny, come on.”

_Oh shit, what happens if the people at the lab got Jonas, what if they took him. Oh no, no, no, NO!_

Mitch was about to go into panic mode when Jonas interrupted his thoughts, “Jesus man, I’m right here. Don’t go calling a search party for me Mit.”

“God! You scared me, where even were you?”

Jonas shifted his weight from side to side while rubbing the back of his neck, “Ah nowhere, you don’t need to worry your pretty little head about it.” His words were confident, but his face said otherwise.

“Okay…”

“I think I better be getting home, Sid can’t hold off Dean for too long.” Jonas laughed awkwardly.

Before Mitch could understand what he wanted to reply as he was already exclaimed, “You're not going to walk me home?” Maybe in his head, it meant to be a joke, but the way he said it made it sound like he was dead serious.

Jonas let out a loud chuckle while gripping his sides, all Mitch could do was let out a weak apology.

“No, no, your right. It would be shitty of me to leave you to walk all by yourself, I’m a gentleman after all.”

Mitch let out a defeated sigh, “Yeah, no one will mess with us if your here to protect me.”

“I don’t like that tone Mit if anyone fucking messes with my buddy then they’ll have their skull caved in.”

Mitch rolled his eyes but didn’t complain. Spending time with Jonas is always enough to make him do about anything.

It’s weird, Mitch had never seen this side of Jonas Wagner. He is still rude and somewhat crude, but there is more to him. He has dreams and hopes and listens to Mitch ramble about nothing, but still looks like he really cares. He enjoys skateboarding, playing the drums, and his favorite color is still yellow. Mitch is completely unaware of how it is possible to be so infatuated with another person.

All of these thoughts were flying around Mitch’s head as the both of them strolled back to the trailer park. Mitch was somewhat embarrassed that he made Jonas see his sub-par living situation, but other boy didn’t say anything about it.

When they got to the front door the sky was getting dark and it looked like a storm was coming, “You better get going, sorry again. I meant that, since, you know, there could be people coming after us… It was selfish of me.”

“Whatever man, you have to stop saying ‘sorry’ and shit. You don’t have to be fucking scared of me.”

“I know."

Mitch fiddled with his backpack straps, realizing too late that what his words had a lot more hidden meaning then he intended.

Jonas smirked and clapped his hand on Mitch’s shoulder, “Dude don't get all sappy on me! I’ll see you at school, or something.”

“God, you are so much like my brother,” Mitch added without thinking, he had been doing that a lot around Jonas.

“Well, if your brother is as cool as me, then you should be thankful Mit! When can I meet him?”

 _Well not anytime soon, I’m afraid._ Mitch wanted to answer, but he and Jonas were not close enough yet to have that conversation. So he lied instead, “He lives out of state, he's in the Army.”

“When he comes around again tell him I want to meet him!”

“Yeah I will, I promise.” Mitch smiled sadly. Then in an act of insanity, Mitch bent down and hugged Jonas. It didn’t last long, but it felt like forever and a day.

The freckled boy was just as soft as Mitch had always dreamed. The feeling of Jonas’s hot breath on his neck made him shiver slightly. But then he pulled back, feeling horrified.

“I-IM SORRY!” Mitch prattled loudly while opening his front door quickly, “I h-have to g-g-go!”

Mitch slammed it shut, and almost screamed at his own stupidity. He slumped against it and noticed his aunt was watching him from her favorite recliner.

“Damn son, that was fuckin stupid.” She cackled at him while raising a cheap beer Mitch didn’t know the name of. He never wanted to die more than that exact moment.

**______________________**

Jonas walked home trying to figure out what just happened with Mitch. He never thought his childhood bully victim would give _him_ , of all people, a hug. It made him confused and dazed, but still, he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. Mitch meant actually like him, and stick around, not like his other friends who only hang out with him because they had been friends for so long.

But then the crushing realization of remembering the pink lights made his stomach turn. _What did they mean?_ And, _Why did it make me feel different than before?_

 _Wait what if-_ But before he could delve too deep into that thought process he stopped himself because it was just Mitch, and it’s too soon.

Jonas kept telling himself that he’ll think about it later, but he knew he didn’t want to. He never wanted too, as he knew the questions that would raise in his mind, he also knew he would probably not like the answers.

He got home soaking wet as it had started pouring halfway through his way home. Even so, he didn’t really notice, but Sue did.

“Oh Jonas dear, your all wet! Why were you out there?”

Jonas just lets out a half-assed grant as a response, ignoring her question.

Sue was nice enough, although a bit high strung, so she was somewhat hard to deal with. Jonas didn’t mind her, but she was a little too, “May I tell you about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” for his liking.

“I, um, had a project to work on.”

Sue gave him a doubtful look, with a knowing smile playing on her thin lips, “Okay honey, we have some lasagna leftovers in the fridge if you would like some.”

“Thanks,” Jonas added as he walked up the carpeted stairs. He was aware he was being rude, but a lot of other stuff was clouding his mind at the moment.

He burst into his bedroom, looking wildly around to find his headphones.

_I just need to relax or something! Listen to some music that’s it!_

He finally found them and pulled out his shattered phone. Turning on the first song he saw on his playlist, Bear Hands by Giants filled his ears. It was a nice song he had found over the summer, it really wasn’t what he liked to listen to most of the time. But there was something amazing about it.

He felt himself start to zone out, letting the words begin to become muffled, with only the beat keeping him grounded in reality. But like most good, calming things, they always seem to fade for Jonas Wagner. Thoughts of Mitch revised, and it made him want to throw something.

_Why the fuck can’t this guy leave me alone!?!_

But he felt deep down he wanted to keep thinking of Mitch, it was impossibly infuriating. There was nothing “special” about Mitch. He was just a normal guy, who liked A.V. Club and superhero comics. He clearly loved his brother and his friends, part of Jonas wanted Mitch to love him like that. He wanted Mitch to smile when he looked at Jonas, not look at him with some fear in his eyes. Just thinking about it made his chest feel heavy.

_Is this normal, or am I going insane? Why would this be normal, is there anything about me that’s even normal anymore?_

Jonas didn’t know why he kept on asking these big questions he definitely couldn’t answer himself.

But all of this leads him to think of Eddy, and had been thinking of Eddy a lot for the past few months. Eddy was 3 years older than Jonas and had come to Dean and Sue’s foster home later than him by 2 years. But he had practically raised Jonas. Eddy had been wild and crazy and had an infectious laugh. The older boy even let Jonas follow him around, he suspected that Eddy liked being the one someone looked up too. He was a ginger with as many freckles as Jonas and clearly had been Dean’s least favorite foster kid. They were always fighting or getting on each other's nerves, but it all came to a head when Dean caught Eddy making out with another guy when the boy was 16.

Jonas vividly remembers Eddy packing up his things a few days after the incident, as Dean had already begun filling out the paperwork to have him removed from the Wagner’s care. Eddy had tears in his eyes as he said goodbye to 13-year-old Jonas when he was about to leave, “Be safe lil man, I promise you’ll make it out alive. You're a fighter, and don’t let him ever fucking tell you different.”

After that, he gave Jonas a small colorful shell they had found at the cove together while hugging him. He still has it on his nightstand.

Jonas had cried the whole night, trying to keep quiet so none of the other kids could hear. He felt worthless, wishing he could of, somehow, helped Eddy. Jonas didn’t understand what he did wrong, and Dean had just thrown the poor boy out like he was nothing, like he was garbage.

That day Jonas began to realize a lot of things, like how people didn’t have a reason for doing the terrible things they did, but Jonas was going to fight every last one of them. That was also when Jonas realized he had to take up Eddy’s place for being the least favorite kid in that hellhole.

Jonas often thought of him, and if he was doing okay if he was happier now. He had tried to keep in touch with Eddy, but when Dean found out…

Thinking about Eddy for too long hurt too much. Jonas knew that it was stupid, but Eddy had meant as much to him as Sidney does. Jonas also wonders why, the kid was kind of rude, cruel, and dumb. Jonas remembers him trying to climb out the window, probably to see his friends, but he fell off the slanted roof breaking a rib. He didn’t want to tell Dean, so for a couple of days, he pretended nothing was wrong, but he ended up passing out from the pain when he ran into the side of a door by accident. Eddy really wasn’t the best role model for him to have, but Jonas never cared.

Through all of this, Jonas became aware of something, somewhat earth-crushingly terrible. Eddy was so amazing and perfect to his younger self because Jonas uses to have a crush on him. It was so obvious. he was shocked he hadn’t realized it before. Jonas had been completely obsessed with Eddy, he always wanted to be around him, and no matter what the guy did Jonas never got angry or frustrated.

All this time, it had been right there. Jonas even recalls being extremely jealous of the nameless guy Eddy began hanging out with, and who later turned out to be the kid that got Eddy kicked out.

Jonas’s felt his face getting warm just thinking about how desperate he had been for Eddie's attention. And that he has like a guy before! All around Jonas’ room lights were flying around, again being multiple colors, as he was feeling a lot of different complex emotions at the time.

_Does this mean I’m gay! It can’t fucking be, I like girls! I’ve always liked girls! Maybe it was a one-time thing… What's the point of fucking lying to myself anymore?_

By now Jonas had than the headphones across the bed, and he could still hear the music coming from them.

_NO! It could just have been just him. Well, I mean except for that choir boy from church when I was younger. God, I don’t even remember his name. He had the fucking prettiest blue eyes… WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING TO ME! What about all the girls I think are hot, there are so many. I am definitely not a fucking queer!_

The words seemed forced even in his own head, but he didn’t want to acknowledge that. He just wanted to go to sleep and dream of beautiful girls, with their curves and soft lips. Not boys and their strong arms that wrap around his body in a nice comforting hug. Not boys who like collecting old action figures from the 80s, or who wear an orange sweater from the Lost and Found. No not boys like that, not now, not ever.

**______________________**

_I am so Stupid! Why would I do that? How will I face him, he probably thinks I’m mental or something! How will I explain myself, and it was all going so well… But of course, I had to mess it up!_

All of these things were keeping Mitch awake the whole night, and he just wanted to sleep. He was used to not getting a good night's rest as a lot of things usually keep him up. But at least he gets a few hours, but not today, he had too much to think over.

Mitch was so dead set on doing something, he even thought of texting Jonas “sorry” and be over with it. Now Jonas had a real reason to beat up Mitch at school, as what sane person hugs someone who clearly dislikes with a burning passion.

_But maybe Jonas does like me, maybe he doesn’t hate me. He's been nice lately and god he looks happy sometimes when we’re together._

Trying to go to bed was useless, so he threw the covers off and went over to his small and cluttered desk his had since he was ten. By now he could barely fit his legs under it. He pulled one of the doors open and found his notebook he writes in when he can’t sleep. He has had it for some time, and it is almost filled up, Mitch has had a lot of restless nights.

He started with something simple, stating different things about Jonas in his neat, and clean handwriting. He knew it was somewhat creepy but he liked having someway for him to express his true feelings, as he can really tell anyone else.

 _Well, that’s not true now that my friends know._ Mitch corrected himself, cringing at the awkward energy that has around them after the incident after school.

He wonders if his mom would like Jonas, she has heard about him before. But his changed a lot since 7th grade, and Mitch was going to see her soon so they could talk about it. His mom has always been there for him no matter what, so he told her everything. When he finally came out to her, she was nothing but supportive and loving. She meant everything to him, thank god she was getting out of jail soon.

After an hour of writing anything he could think of, Mitch was ready to go to sleep. Leaning back and stretching his long bony arms in the air, while cracking his neck. He was extremely aware it would take him forever to fall asleep, but the only silver lining was that he would get to dream of better, nicer things.

Of things that weren’t so complicated and difficult. Maybe of his brother and warm spring days when they used to play in the plastic kiddie pool on the small patch of grass outside the trailer. Or of his friends driving to better and more interesting places other than Shellwood California, with music at full blast laughing their heads off at something that Javier said. Maybe he would dream of Jonas telling him he was beautiful and that he loved him, and Mitch would kiss the other boy until his lips were bright red and sore. Maybe…

Mitch’s mind played through all of the possibilities he could imagine until sleep took him over.

**______________________**

The morning after Jonas’ realization he vowed he would avoid Mitch at all cost for the rest of the year. But then Mitch met him outside of school and began a conversation and Jonas completely forgot about the promise. As he continues to playfully tease and hang out with him for the rest of the day.

He knew he was being pathetic, but there was something about Mitch that made him want to stay. It could be the taller teen’s kindness and consideration of others because he was always trying to please everyone. Jonas thought that must of been exhausting. Or it could be the way he talked about science and the things he was interested in, and how he always asked Jonas about his. Never failing to listen extensively.He held onto information that was almost insignificant, but Mitch treated it like it was the important and worth something.

How was Jonas supposed to try and avoid that?

It went on like that for a week, both of them forgetting the real point of them being together, the project. But both didn’t seem to mind, spending time outside of school exploring their powers, and even more time texting each other late into the night. Of course, there was still a barrier between the two, but they were both trying to break it down bit by bit.

Jonas had still not fully coming to terms yet with the discovery of him possibly liking other guys, but it did come apparent to him how hot other men could be. Especially one member of the same sex, Jonas would rather not name out loud.

He also had the feeling that Sidney knew what was going on, as every time she saw Mitch and Jonas together she would give her brother a knowing look he didn’t really understand. And when the topic of Mitch came up in their conversations, which started to happen more and more often, it seemed like she was expecting him to say something more about the boy. Jonas naively wondered if it was his twin reading his mind.

When he brought it up with her one day, she just shrugged and chuckled, “I have no idea what you're talking about, _but_ it seems to me like you got yourself a new _friend_.”

Jonas didn’t like the way she said “friend”, but he didn’t talk about it with her again.

He didn’t know what Mitch was or what he meant to Jonas, and part of him didn't want to find out. As it was all coming at him so fast, but still it wasn’t coming fast enough. It was so frustrating, sometimes Jonas wanted to scream at something. Even so, he couldn’t deny he hasn’t been this happy in a long time. After the events on that Thursday, he thought things were finally working out.

They were at the cove after school like always, going there kind of became a routine with the two of them. Jonas was waddling in the cold ocean water with his clothes on, as he was uncombable letting anyone see his body without something over it. He was letting his lights float around, cutting through the small waves. Jonas hadn’t heard from Mitch in a while, and he turned around to see where he was.

Jonas saw that Mitch was sitting on the soft, warm sand, sliding his feet under it. He was smiling looking calm and relax, something Jonas didn’t see very often. Jonas now knows that Mitch is nervous because of him, it’s just that Mitch is naturally jimpy. He found it sort-of endearing over time.

Jonas let out a happy little sigh and called, “Are you coming in, you never swim with me!”

Mitch instantly looked embarrassed, as he gazed down at his legs and fiddled with his hands, “Well, I-I..” He paused for a second clearly trying to choose the best wording, “I can’t swim. I know it’s dumb but I am kind of scared of water.”

Jonas was about to make a joke about it, as you have to drink water. How can you be fearful of it? But Jonas could see that he was being serious and instead decide to help him instead. Jonas strolled over ready to prove a point.

He put out his hand trying to show he wanted Mitch to take it. The other boy was slow at first but grabbed it and got up. Jonas smirked while exclaiming, “Let me teach you!”

“Last time you told me that, I fell off your skateboard and landed on my butt.”

“Whatever you love me!”

Jonas said the words before becoming truly aware of what they were. But he tried to play it off, as he didn’t want to show how sheepish he was because of it; and him holding Mitch’s hands didn't help things.

They reached the sea and Mitch rolled up his pants, Jonas was once again jealous and flustered from looking at Mitch’s figure. How dare Mitch have those strong calves and hot arms, was the universe just wanting Jonas to die of a heart attack? But he had to push those thoughts away for now. He would think about that when everyone else in the house was asleep and he could shove his hand down his sweats imagining Mitch’s arms wrapped around his naked body while he cried out Jonas’ name.

_Shit, I need to stop thinking about that kind of stuff while he’s around. Jesus, I never thought I ever want to jerk myself off by thinking of another dude. But nothing in my fucking life happens the easy way, does it?_

“Wait, how far are we going?” Mitch asked with panic in his voice.

Jonas felt himself be brought out from his thoughts, “Don’t fucking worry, I got ya.”

Mitch’s face suddenly got flushed and he looked down again. Jonas knew he had an effect on the boy, but Mitch had no idea the effect he had on him. But Jonas wasn’t planning on telling him anytime soon.

They went further into the tide until the water reached their knees, “C-can we just stay here, maybe?”

“No dude, I said I was going to teach you how to swim. I’m not backing out now, we’re already halfway!” Jonas whined, “All you have to do now is, um fucking, drop down onto the floor.”

Mitch murmured an unsure, “Okay…”

It was fine for a few short second until Mitch let out a surprised yelp. Grabbing onto Jonas and getting significantly closer.

“Dude chill, it was probably a fuckin piece of seaweed.” But Jonas wasn’t complaining too hard about the proximity of the both of them was becoming less far apart. The lights around them were once again pink, and Jonas wished he had gotten a power that didn’t show exactly what he is feeling all the time.

They ended up starting swim after a couple more minutes of Jonas reassuring Mitch he wouldn’t be attacked by a shark. It began with them just putting their heads under, and while doing that Jonas opened his eyes. It stung but it was worth it as he saw Mitch with his cheeks all puffed out and his eyes screwed shut. It was cute, and it made Jonas wonder if the implication of kissing Mitch was as bad as he originally thought because he would do anything to kiss Mitch in that moment.

Even so, the time passed and they had to go back up for air, “See not so bad…” Jonas whispered as he didn’t feel like now was the time to talk loudly, it was as if time stops and it was only the two of them.

All this time they hadn’t let go of each other's hand, but they were also right next to each other with only their wet clothes blocking their bodies from touching. Jonas soon realized Mitch was gazing at him, and he turned to met his eyes.

Mitch raised his shaking fingers out of the water and lightly tucked a strand of curly hair from Jonas' face. By now Jonas could feel his breath quicken and his lights become a darker shade of pink. And Mitch's face was a mixture of a lot of different things that Jonas couldn’t decipher. It was fear, longing, and pain.

Mitch cupped Jonas’ cheek, and the freckled boy didn’t know how to react. This is what he wanted, but what if Dean found out? What would happen to him, where would he go?

Even so, Jonas’ brain shut off when Mitch’s face steadily moved closer, and Jonas felt his eyes flutter shut. But everything came crashing down when the sound of Jonas’ phone ringing broke the both of them out of their trance.

“Damn It!” Jonas hurried out of the ocean to his phone on the beach. Terror filled him as he was worried Dean was angry with him for not being home on time. But if Dean knew what he was just about to do with Mitch he knew he would have been a lot madder.

“Hey...Yeah I-I know… I’ll be home soon, sorry again Sir.” Jonas hung up and turned to see that Mitch was out of the water looking dazed and had a tiny smile on his face.

He gulped thinking about the thing he just missed out on, “Fuck sorry, I have to go… I’ll see you later tho.”

Jonas’ word seemed to register with Mitch a bit late as he jumped a little at them, “Oh yes, of course.”

Jonas was about to run off when he said to Mitch again, “I’ll see you tomorrow, I promise.” He tried with all his power to convey to Mitch what he really meant, _I promise I will do what we were going to a minute ago. Because I want to, I really want too._

Mitch nodded his head as if he understood. Jonas skated away feeling scared and excited of the unknown and what the future held for him.

**______________________**

Mitch got into Crystal's car after a frantic phone call saying he knew her to take him to see his mom right then.

When he got into the car, she was looking at him with a worried expression, “Hey Mitch what’s the matter, something happen?”

“No, I just… I need to see her.”

Crystal sighed and started the car, “I get it, but you know visiting hours are over.”

Mitch felt a wave of frustration wash over him, “Then why did you pick me up then?”

“I had a feeling you weren’t in the right state of mind right now to get home. But for real, everything okay? You can tell me anything, and I swear I won’t judge.”

Mitch didn’t feel like talking, as he was still trying to process the things that just happened in the last 20 minutes. But Crystal was not going to let it slide, “Please tell me, I care about what's going on with you. And if it involves Jonas I will not say anythi-”

“I almost kissed him.”

The car suddenly stopped as Crystal had slammed on the brakes in the middle of the empty road. Throwing the both of them to hit the headboard slightly.

“W-WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT CRYSTAL!” Mitch yelled.

“YOU TRIED TO KISS HIM!?!”

A moment of quiet overcame the two of them, as they tried to catch their breaths.

“I’m sorry I shouldn’t have done that, but are you serious? What did he do, does he like you back?”

“I don’t know why I did it, it was as if another person took over my body and my own mind wasn’t doing the thinking. He was just looking at me and I felt like it was something I was supposed to do, then his dad called. You have no idea how much I wanted to kiss him though.” Mitch proclaimed sadly.

Crystal grinned at him, “Wow I had no idea how lovesick you are!”

“Uh don’t say it like that.” Mitch groaned while scratching his neck.

“Oh come on you know it’s true,” She then started the Sedan up again, “You know what? How we go to the pizza place in town? It’s your favorite!”

_I guess Crystal really is worried about me, she never does anything nice when she obviously has homework to do._

“Yeah, I need to drown my sorrows in food.”

“Now that’s my Mitch-boy. But remember no food in the car, or you die. And I don’t think your boyfriend would appreciate that.”

Mitch glared at her, as he really didn’t need to think of Jonas then. He knew if he did he would tell her more than he originally wanted to.

**______________________**

Before Jonas could even set his bag down when he got home Dean questioned forcefully, “Who is it that you been hanging around these past couple of weeks, or is he just a lie you are telling to get away with doing shit?”

Jonas sighed trying to control himself, “It’s just Mitch. Don’t worry he's a honors students, he's a good influence.”

“Don’t sass me, boy.”

“Sorry, Sir,” Jonas said while keeping his lights at bay.

“So Mitch Mueller, the boy from the trailer park, though I raised you better than for you to associate with those kinds of people.” The older man sneered.

_I have to get out of here or else I am going to do some dumb shit._

“If you keep spending so much time with him, people are going to make assumptions.” Jonas didn’t like the way Dean said,“Assumptions”.

“And I don’t want a problem with you and that boy, so you better stay away or you know the consequences.”

Jonas felt burning anger building up, he had to make it to his room. And It didn’t help that he also began to feel tears come to his eyes, he didn’t want Dean to see him weak.

Through gritted teeth, Jonas mumbled, “Yes Sir.”

“Now go do your homework, and be down for dinner.”

When he got upstairs he went straight to Sidney’s room, he had to have someone with him right now.

“Hey JoJo, I was lo-” She started but cut herself off when she saw Jonas looking like he was holding back tears. She opened her arms to make him come over and sit with her.

Jonas went to her bed and bared his head in Sidney’s shoulder, letting out a quiet sob.

“Hey, hey it’s okay,” She soothed while petting his messy hair, “I’m here if you want to talk about it, okay?”

It took Jonas some time to fully calm down, but he was still clearly shaken. He wiped his eyes trying to make it look like he hadn’t been crying.

“I-I have to tell you s-something, bu-but you can’t tell anyone. You have to fucking swear, n-not to tell anyone.” She hugged him a little tighter trying to show him how much she cared.

“I promise.”

He finally let go and let his powers seep out, blue lights illuminated the room.

“Woah, what are those?”

Jonas told her everything, it was hard, but he had to. He had to tell her everything, “I know it’s a lot of shit to handle, but you can’t tell anyone.” He repeated.

“But there's something else,” Jonas looked up at his sister, “I think I like M-Mitch.”

“Oh! Well, I’m not really that surprised JoJo, your not very good at concealing your emotions.” She laughed.

Jonas felt a gigantic weight be lifted off his shoulders, but he was still aware that it wasn’t going to be that easy for things to fully be right. But for now, all he could do was laugh with his twin at the stupidity of it all. She was right he must have been so obvious.

“Are you going to tell him?”

Jonas was caught off-guard with that question, as he realized he hadn’t told her everything, “Well acu-”

“Kids dinners ready!” Sue called from downstairs, causing Jonas and Sidney to look at the door surprised.

“I’ll tell you later.”

“Yeah okay, we can come up with a plan, ‘Get Jonas a boyfriend”.

Jonas pushed her lightly, feeling his face heat up at the thought of Mitch being his "boyfriend".

_Maybe things will get better._

****______________________** **

Mitch spent the night before getting ready to tell Jonas, or at least do something about their situation. He couldn’t handle this dancing around each other anymore. But much to his disappointment, he didn’t see Jonas for the whole day. At first, he thought he just skipped the first few periods. He still hadn’t found him at lunch, Mitch asked Jonas’ other friends and they said they hadn’t heard from him or his sister. Even so, throughout the day Mitch texted him, but Jonas never replied.

Mitch started to get worried because Jonas always texted back. So after much thought, Mitch chose to go to Jonas’ house to see if he was alright. He knew that was a bit extreme but when Mitch is worried he always needs an answer.

So he walked to the street Jonas mentioned he lived on. Mitch guessed that he was at the right place from the number of toys on the front lawn, and Jonas’ skateboard was on the front porch. The whole way there he was trying to figure out what he wanted to say, or how he was going to say it. It was becoming more and more stressful.

When finally got up the courage to knock on the door a tall, stern looking man opened it. He had his arms crossed and was looking down at Mitch suspiciously.

_He must be Dean._

“Hello Sir, I’m looking for Jonas Wagner,” Mitch informed quickly trying to show he wasn’t here to cause trouble. It happens way too often with Mitch that people think he's up to something illegal from his operation or how he looks because, in reality, Mitch is more scared of them.

“And who meant you be?” Mr. Wagner asked.

Mitch gulped realizing this conversation probably wouldn't go well, “My name’s Mitchell, I work with Jonas on a school project and when he didn’t show up today I was worried.” He finished with a weak smile.

Dean raised his eyebrow, “Well sorry kid you can’t see him today.”

The boy didn’t really know how to respond to that so he just stammered, “Oh okay… Sorry to bother you, would you mind telling Jonas I say ‘Hi’ or to contact me soon? The project due tomorrow.” He lied.

“Sure, goodbye.” Dean finished and slammed the door shut. Mitch had the feeling he wouldn’t be hearing from Jonas soon.

And his guess was right as he didn’t see or hear from Jonas for the next few days. And whenever Mitch tried to talk to Jonas’ sister she would run away or avoid him. It was becoming odd and it was making Mitch lose his mind.

Then after three days of radio silence from Jonas, he showed up at the Environmental Sciences class. He looked miserable and somewhat frightened when he saw Mitch. And when he got closer Mitch could see that the other teen was sporting a black eye.

Mitch’s eyes went wide, wanting to ask, "What happened", and, “Who did this to you”. But Jonas wouldn’t even look at Mitch the whole class period and was ignoring Mitch tries to get his attention. As soon as the bell rang Jonas bolted out of his sit, but Mitch was faster. He caught Jonas by the arm in the hallway and the freckled boy tried to pull his hat down to cover his eyes.

“Are you okay? Where were you, I was so worried?”

Jonas glared at Mitch trying and failing to scare him off, but Mitch could see that something seriously wrong happened.

“Leave me alone, I don’t want to fucking talk to you.”

Mitch felt his heartbreak, but deep down he knew that he didn’t mean that, “Jonas please, I care about you. Tell me what happened.” Mitch let go of Jonas' arm as he didn’t want to make him feel uncomfortable.

“I’ll tell you what fucking happened! I got this,” He pointed at his eye as he yelled at Mitch which was causing some people to look at them strangely, “Because of you! Because you didn’t know how to FUCKING LEAVE ME ALONE! I HATE YOU!” Anger seemed to build as he kept talking and he ended up pushing Mitch away forcefully. Before Mitch could fully understand what happened Jonas was running down the corridor.

It was like Mitch was brought back in time, back to 7th grade. But this time it was much worse, Jonas really did hate him now. It was over, and Mitch’s vision started to go blurry as the world started to spin. He tried to steady himself, but he had to leave. He couldn’t stay here any longer, he took off to the bathroom, since he felt like he was going to get sick.

 _I ruined everything, I got him hurt. I ruined everything, I got him hurt. I ruined everything, I got him hurt…_ Was all Mitch could think as he hurled up his lunch in the boy's bathroom. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, it's finally done! Thanks so much for reading, commenting, and liking it, it means the world to me. I hope I'll be able to write more fanfic soon so keep an eye on that. I truly appreciate this, really would like to hear your feedback! Love you, enjoy!

It had been a couple of days since Jonas had the outburst, but it felt like it happened only hours ago. The heavy weight on his chest still hadn't left and because of this he had not been skipping as many classes, as he needed something to fill his mind. Mitch had been out for a few days, and Jonas was hurting.

_One of my only real friends and I ruined it… I’m such a dumbass._

His eye was starting to get better and beginning to fade into a nasty yellow color. It was a cruel reminder of Dean’s extreme aggression, even so, he knew he couldn’t tell anyone about what happened. Jonas knew that was not the first time his foster parent had hit another kid in the house, but who are you supposed to tell when the man you are going after is a fucking cop.

Even so, all these things weren’t the problem Jonas truly cared about, he was aware he was the punching bag, for now, the other kids wouldn’t get hurt and that was all Jonas needed to keep taking the hit. He also knew he over exaggerated and pushed away Mitch, someone he really liked. This was causing him to get less and less sleep, and avoiding Dean more and more.

The man was becoming even more overbearing, making sure Jonas was never out of his sight. The only person Jonas was able to confide in was Sidney, but sometimes she wasn’t enough. As much as he tried to reassure himself that he didn’t miss Mitch or that he would have lost the boy’s friendship anyway, it didn’t work.

A day after Mitch got back, he seemed disgruntled and despondent, it was awful. One time in the halls Jonas and him made eye contact, and the look of shame on Mitch’s face made Jonas want to beg for his forgiveness. But the moment passed and Mitch was dragged off by his friends. Even so, it made Jonas realized he had to stop this, he had to tell him everything about how he felt. But first, he had to get Mitch to see him and get there himself.

At lunch that same day Jonas went over to his normal table, slamming his tray, starting everyone in the process.

“Sid I need you to come with me to a place after school, so I can get away from Dean for a while.”

“You sure you want to do that? Don’t want another bla-” Lewis started but Jonas cut him off, “If you keep talking Lewis, you’ll be the one with a fucked up eye and a broken nose.”

The other boy raised his hands in defeat and didn’t say anything else.

Sidney seemed a little unsure, “Where do you need me to take you?”

Jonas sat down next to her sending a glance to the other two people at the table to keep their mouths shut, “You know the cove that you and me used to go too? I just need you to be there, well not right there just close by… Don’t ask.”

“Sure, whatever you need JoJo.” Her discomfort seemed to grow the more she thought about it, but Jonas knew she wouldn’t say, “no”. As she had been letting him do whatever the past week after the incident.

He nodded his head, grinning. Jonas could fix this, he was going to fix this.

Jonas wrote a poorly written and messy note to Mitch and dropped it into his locker during 5th period. He knew that there was a very likely possibility of Mitch not showing up, but he had to try. For once in a long time, Jonas felt like he had to do something to make his life better and worth living.

When the end of the day finally came, Jonas had to drag Sidney out so they could get there in time. The two of them didn’t talk much on the walk but it seemed like Sidney wanted to speak her mind about something. Jonas finally got tired of it and asked her flat out.

“I was just wondering if this had something to do with… with Mitch. I know you kind of got into a fight with him after- You know…”

Jonas exhaled dreading having to tell her, “Yeah, I need to fucking fix it. I let my angry fucking take me over. I ruined everything. But I’m still trying to bring him into my shitty life.”

Sidney stopped and pulled his arm, wrapping him in a tight embrace, “Jonas I don’t think you're a mess, I know everything will get better. And I’ll always support you no matter what, no matter what Dean says. I love you.”

Jonas felt his lips quiver, but he didn’t want to cry anymore, he had to be strong.

“I love you too,” He pulled away, “But we have to keep going.”

She smiled, “Okay.”

When they go to the fence that Jonas had become oh too familiar with, he told her to wait there. Of course, she questioned about the fence and why it was there or if it had to do with the lab, but he promised he would inform her more about it later.

He slipped over to the other side, letting go of the cold metal. It was starting to become Fall in Shellwood so it was beginning to become less warm and like Summer. Jonas zipped up his black hoodie and continued towards the beach.

It was a nice walk, he had to admit. It let him think of the things he wanted to say to Mitch.

_I could tell him that I have a fucking huge crush on him, but that would probably freak him out even more. He definitely thinks I want to beat the shit out of him, I’m such an idiot. But that isn’t helping me figure out what the hell to say to him. I’ll just tell him I’m sorry, and if he doesn’t want to be friends with me anymore that’s fine._

He got to the cove, and Mitch wasn’t there, which he expected as he had said to meet him at 4 o'clock. Jonas plopped down and rested his head against a rock while checking the time on his phone. He still had a few more minutes, because of this he let his mind wander to nicer things.

Things like Mitch, but not in a sexual sense. Sure he thought of that a lot, but Jonas liked thinking of things that were more PG sometimes. Just innocent things, like kisses in between classes, or holding hands while at the abandoned construction site playing around. Maybe even, if he let himself, Jonas thought of them when they're older having a house and cuddling on the couch watching movies. As he went further into that headspace it seemed to become more unrealistic, but it felt good at the moment and that was what kept Jonas grounded.

After a while, he heard the sound of heavy footsteps, and Jonas saw Mitch standing a couple feet away from him, “M-Mitch you came.”

All the things Jonas planned on saying disappeared. He was completely tongue-tied. Just seeing him made Jonas feel amazing and terrified at the same time. He never knew how someone could become mean so much to you after so many years of just being rude to them. The taller teen seemed to be just as nervous as he was fiddling with his hands and looking at the ground.

“Jonas I-”

“I kn-”

The both of them shut their mouths realizing the other one talked as well. Jonas sighed, wanting to sink into the floor. Jonas felt like there was a wall between them, a wall they had both tried so hard to break down a few days before.

“Mitch I’m so fucking sorry… I can’t keep doing this to you, I know you won’t forgive me. But I just want you to know I messed up.” Jonas offered, his voice shaking the whole time. Mitch still hadn’t replied and Jonas was about to tell him it was okay to leave. When Jonas heard him let out a strangled sob, and it broke his heart. Again blue light encompassed them and the beach, this time with a tint of green.

Mitch buried his face in his hands, Jonas wanted to run up to him and hug him a get rid of his tears. But he was frozen in place, wishing he could be more useful.

After a long time, he spoke up, “J-Jonas i-it was m-m-my fault you got hu-hurt. You h-hate me and I under-understand why.”

Jonas walked closer trying to reassure him he was wrong, but Mitch wasn’t listening, “NO JONAS! I-I can’t!”

The dark skinned boy watch Mitch drop onto the sand, his breath getting faster, and he wrapped his arms around himself. The tears started coming faster and his sobs got louder. Jonas was so scared, he had no idea what to do to help the other boy.

“I-I ca-can’t breath! It won't stop-stop, I don’t want you to s-see me like t-th-this!” He started pulling at his hair so hard his knuckles were turning white. “I just n-need to ca-calm down, t-then you never have t-t-to see me-me again.” Things began to float around the both of them very quickly, and as Mitch got more worked up it got worse.

Jonas knew he had to do something, he jogged up to Mitch getting down to his level, “Mitch please, I will never leave you. Please, I’m right here.” Jonas reached out to take his hand, but Mitch slid back towards the wall of rocks surrounding the cove.

“You d-don’t want THIS, y-you don’t wa-want ME!”

Jonas felt himself begin to cry, but he didn’t care. It wasn’t about what he was feeling, it was about Mitch. His friend.

“Mitch no matter what you do, I’ll be here! It will be over soon, and when it is I’ll still be right next to you.” Jonas whispered, trying to make his voice sound as calm as it could be in a situation like this.

He knew he had to make him think of something else to relax him, “Y-you know that comic you told me about, I looked it up! It looks fucking awesome, I thought I meant to steal some money from Dean to get it. Maybe we could read it together?” Jonas tried, it wasn’t going to work that soon, so he continued talking about things Mitch liked.

After a while, the heavy breathing didn’t stop but his posture became more relaxed, and he let Jonas take his hand in his. As Jonas kept going Mitch let him embrace him, and the shorter boy started rubbing his back. Jonas felt vulnerable in the best way and he wanted Mitch to feel the same and safe. The heavy air started to disperse so it became easier to take in oxygen for the both of them.

When silence finally took the both over Mitch rubbed his eyes and murmured, “I’m sorry.”

“You're not the one who has to be sorry, ‘cause it was me. You mean so much to me Mit, I don’t deserve you.”

After that statement, Mitch’s face began to be less pale.

“I don’t ever want to make you feel like shit Mitch. And if I ever do again then dump my sorry ass, like you should have done years ago,” Jonas chuckled, but Mitch shook his head.

“No Jonas, I want to be with you too. But I just want to know why could have been friends since the beginning?”

Jonas took Mitch’s face in his hands, studying the details of it harder than he ever had studied for a test, “I don’t know, I guess I thought you were hanging around me ‘cause you felt bad for me, or something. And if I made it fucking obvious to everyone I wasn’t a target by giving you shit. It was a fucking mess from the start, but I thought about you a lot while I was at the other place. You know Holy Oaks? I regret not getting to have hung out with you sooner, I’m just a dumbass because I didn’t realize that sooner.” He finished and wiped away the blood that was coming from Mitch’s nose.

Mitch frowned at the last part, “Why do you always say that? I don’t think your idiot. I think you’re really amazing and funny, I’ve always have.”

“...I was right about one thing though, I don’t deserve you.”

Mitch looked at him like he was something special, something that was important and Jonas wasn’t really used to that. Maybe it was possible Mitch was right.

“You probably have to go don’t you?” The other boy inquired sadly, it made Jonas realize the time. He definitely had to go back and see Sid by now. But he didn’t want to go, he wanted to be next to Mitch forever. Even so, that is not how the world works, time doesn’t stop it keeps going and it doesn’t care about Jonas’ feelings. From what has been going on in his life that was very clear.

Jonas sighed, “Yeah you’re right, she waiting for me. B-but I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Wish I could text you but Dean fucking took my phone away.”

He thought for a moment, then added, “But if it’s really important or something call the house phone. But pretend to be someone else.”

“Alright,” Mitch said as Jonas brought him to his feet. A moment of stillness fell over them but was quickly broken by the realization that Jonas had to leave soon. But even if their solution seemed to be somewhat hopeless, they knew that they could at least try to keep it alive.

**______________________**

 

 

Of course, Mitch asked Crystal politely for a ride home, but she had other plans.

When he reached the clearing nothing seemed usual, but when he got to the car Crystal was staring at him with fury in her unusual eyes. The door was locked, Mitch tried to get in and he knocked on the window to show her that it wasn’t opening. Yet she still didn’t and jerked the vehicle ahead.

Mitch tried again, but she did the same thing. Mitch could tell she was angry and he yelled, “Crystal come on, I don’t want to play this game! I have Calculus homework!”

She brought the window down and practically threw her head out of it and screamed back, “WELL it seems to me like you had enough time to go see Jonas instead of doing homework! How many times does he have to break your heart until you understand he is just playing you!?!”

“Come on Crystal, this is unnecessary.”

“Is it? Not even after he tried to _hurt you_? I know you think there is some good in him, but he’s just a douchebag, Mitch! I hate seeing you in pain like this!”

Mitch was aware that he was getting very annoyed and once again he felt his powers start to become more powerful by the second.

“How can you say that when you don’t even know him!?! His my friend and he needs me like I need him right now. And I know you think that’s stupid but he makes me happy, if it doesn’t work out then that’s on me…” He shouted spreading his arms out and flying them around in frustration, “Your opinion on him doesn’t matter to be completely honest.”

There was a long pause and Mitch finally said, “Just leave me alone, I’ll walk home myself.”

“Mitch come on, just get in the car.” The dark skinned girl commanded sounding irritated. But Mitch kept walking, so she followed him all the way to the main road.

“I’m sorry but I’m doing this because I care about you. Your mom would do the same.”

Mitch thought of her and realized she may have done the same thing, as she never wanted anyone to mess with her baby. Whenever she thought there was a problem at school she would burst into the principal's office guns a-blazing telling them whats what. Just the memory of it made Mitch smile a bit.

He turned to look at his friend, “Okay, but you have to do me a favor.”

“Fine. What do you need Mitchy boy?”

Mitch though from a second, wanting to have Crystal wait, “I can have your car whenever I need it!”

“Absolutely not! There is no way in hell I will let you ride my baby!”

“Okay how about only once and I promise I will bring it back just the way I left it…”

Crystal unlocked the door and Mitch got in, “I’ll think about it.”

Mitch wrapped his arms around her and squealed. She promptly pushed his large body off while she smirked, “I definitely won’t do it if you do that again.”

The two of them drove off, and Mitch knew exactly when he was going to ask for that favor.

**______________________**

Jonas was in his messy room trying and failing to finish his assignments for school, but he hadn’t been able to focus much since his mind was almost as disorganized as his living space. By then it was almost midnight and the rest of the house was asleep because there was a very strict and early curfew. It was raining buckets outside addition to that there was lighting that made Jonas jump every once and awhile.

But when Jonas heard a noise that was different than all the things he had been listening too before. It was a clicking sound near his window, he realized something or someone was on the roof. He quickly got out of his chair at his desk and grabbed an old plastic baseball bat from when he was little and he played the sport.

The thought that it may be the government people crossed Jonas’ mind and he knew he was done for. That godforsaken jet black car had been following him around, at first, he attempted to think that it didn’t have anything to do with him but when it started showing up near his house he knew something was up.

_Shit, I’m so dead, they're going to kill me. Maybe if I find Dean’s gun I can stop them. Fuck, Fuck, Fucking Fuck!_

Jonas thought maybe the numerous security systems placed around the house would stop them, or even the window which is secured so it prevents anyone from getting in or getting out. He put all of these precautions since many kids were sneaking out, including Jonas before he was set away. When he remembered this a wave of calm came over him until he heard the lock snap off and the glass starts to slowly rise.

Jonas got his bat ready, green lights flew around wildly around and Jonas felt like he was going to pass out.

A large shadow loomed outside as the window slowly began to come undone. Thin, pale fingers reached through the opening and Jonas nearly screamed. But then he noticed how familiar the hands looked then he knew exactly who it was.

“Mitch, what the fuck are you doing here?” Jonas whispered frantically as he was usually the one breaking into someone’s house, not the other way around.

The taller boy crawled his way into Jonas’ bedroom looking winded and somewhat exhilarated, “Jonas I’m sorry I really am, but I had to see you-” He suddenly looked shy and he wouldn’t meet Jonas’ gaze. He never wanted to kiss Mitch more.

“Sorry to say but I don’t think you thought about this hard enough, huh?” The two teens both laughed quietly but it quickly stopped as Mitch realized Jonas was right.  

Mitch rudded the back of his neck and looked around, “Well maybe you would come with me for a bit? I know that sounds crazy and irresponsible, I just thought we could get away for awhile.”

Jonas was aware that this was stupid and he would probably be caught by Dean or the people from the lab. But he didn’t care he just wanted to be with Mitch and forget about the rest of the world, was that too much to ask?

“Okay.”

Mitch seemed surprised and asked, “Really?”

Jonas just nodded while taking Mitch’s hand in his own, and the two of them spend the next 5 minutes trying to get out of the house without making a sound or having anyone see them. Some parts of it were easy as being seen was probably unlikely with the rain, but because of the water getting down the roof was difficult as it was very slippery. Even so, they made it to the car, which was a dark blue, dirty Sedan.

“Woah I didn’t know you had a fucking car!” Jonas said.

“It’s Crystal’s actually, she’s letting me use it for tonight though.”

They got into the car which looked pretty nice to Jonas, but when he saw out of the corner of his eye another vehicle he realized they weren’t the only ones on the road.

“Shit I think that’s one of the fucking government cars!”

All the color drained out of Mitch’s face when he noticed it as well, “We have to get out of here.” He said as the bright headlights of the other car lit up.

The teen put the key in and started it up immediately speeding down the driveway. Jonas was so unprepared he grabbed onto the nearest thing and held on tight. The other automobile was not far behind and Mitch pushed on the pedal harder. They were going 80 and almost slide off the road multiple times as they began to drive out of town. Jonas realized Mitch was trying to get them off their trail by going a bunch of different ways for no particular reasons.

“Where are we going?” Jonas shouted over the roar of the rain and the engine. But Mitch just kept his eyes focused on the things before them and didn’t answer. They were now on a road in the dark woods without many other options.

The shorter boy kept looking back to see if they were close, as much as Mitch attempted to lose them they were always not far behind. Jonas was also barely able to see anything with the storm, but he prayed Mitch could because he didn’t want to die before not having sex with the other teen.

“FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!”

He looked at Mitch once again desperately for a way out or something, but just as he was about to ask a loud sound break through the forest behind them. Jonas stared at the rearview mirror and saw a humongous tree had fallen on the lane. The other car abruptly stopped almost running into it. Through all of this Mitch was still driving at the same speed and Jonas could see that his nose and ears were bleeding.

When the Sedan finally began to slow down Jonas realized they were at the housing complex again, but neither of them got out just yet. It was silent as they both of them caught their breath, even so, Jonas couldn’t help but let out a snicker, it was so unexpected Mitch looked at him with confusion. Soon that one giggle turned into gut-wrenching laughter and shortly after Mitch joined in.

“Wh-where did you learn to drive like THAT!?!” Jonas questioned but it was challenging for him to do so as he was cracking up.

Mitch tried to control himself but it was no use as he chuckled, “My brother, Freddy.”

After a few more seconds Jonas finally calmed down enough to exclaim, “I think I’m going to get sick.” But nothing happened and he looked once again at the boy next to him who seemed so worried about him.

“Man ours lives are so fucked up now.”

Mitch sighed, “Yeah, but we’re messed up together, so there is a silver lining.”

Jonas lightly punched him in the arm and smirked. Neither of them knew what to say after what just happened

“Jonas, can I ask you something?”

He felt his heart start to work up and his stomach began to do flips, “Sure…”

“Who gave you a black eye?” The way Mitch asked the question he seemed scared as if he didn’t want the real answer because he probably knew what it would be.

Jonas crossed his arms and looked out the window at the rubble before them, “Why do you want to know?”

“Because I want to be there for you, or at least make sure your safe.”

“You don’t need to worry about me, you have your own life to fucking live. You have dreams and plans that I will never fit into, and I don’t want to drag you down with me.” Jonas murmured feeling like he was about to cry again.

Mitch placed his hand on Jonas’ face and ran his thumb over his many freckles, “Jonas I feel as if I will bring you down… I am a mess, I have too much emotional baggage for me to even carry. What you saw today at the beach I never let anyone see, sometimes things are just to heavy and I feel as if I will be crushed by it all someday. The only person I had to help me with that was my mom, b-but she’s in,” He took a pause to caught his breathe, “Jail now.”

Mitch looked like he was going to pull away but Jonas firmly took his wrist so the other boy’s hand would stay. Jonas thought he was done talking, but he kept going, “She is everything to me, and she’s the nicest person you’ll ever meet, I swear. You two will meet each other someday, she’ll _love_ you. And I don’t even have Freddie anymore… I lied about him, he isn’t in the army, he died a while ago. Soon after that, my stepdad left too, so it was just me and my mom for years.”

Jonas didn’t know what to say besides, “Mitch I’m so so-sorry.”

“It’s okay, my mom is going to get out soon. And I’ll make her proud too, even if our lives will never be normal again.” Mitch’s eyes began to get glassy and Jonas couldn’t take it, “You have me, I’ll be here whether you like it or not Mit. I’m sorry I ruined everything, you should of never followed me over that god damn fence.”

The sound of the rain hammered against the roof of the car and lightning flashed across the sky. Jonas’ lights took over, illuminating the boy’s faces in purplish pink. The freckled teen ran his finger through Mitch’s brown hair.

“Jonas, can I ask you something?” Mitch replied softly in his low voice that made Jonas want to die from happiness.

“Yes.”

“C-can I, well, would it be alright if I-”

Jonas giggled at Mitch’s nervousness, “Just kiss me Bitchell.”

Their lips met, soft ones against chapped ones, but neither were complaining. Jonas threw his arms around Mitch’s shoulder bring him closer and making the kiss deeper. Mitch smelled like cheap deodorant and pine trees, and with all the sensations Jonas was experiencing he was getting dizzy. The kiss was somewhat sloppy and they kept bumping into each other but Jonas had never felt so alive and enthusiastic.

Finally, they had to get some air, but they did move any further from each other.

After a while, Jonas spoke up, “You have no idea how fucking long I have been waiting to do that.”

Mitch just shook his head and beamed down at the shorter boy, “Oh you think that’s bad, try waiting for years.”

“If we fucking knew that from the start we could have been making out for years!”

Again laughter took them over and it filled the tiny cramped space.

For once Jonas felt free, he didn’t care about the people coming after them or his overbearing foster parents. He felt alive and he would have never guessed it would be Mitchell Mueller who would be the one to make him feel like this.

 

 


End file.
